“False, and mean-spirited!” exclaimed La Tour, scornfully; “you stoop to insult a prisoner, who is powerless in your hands, but from whose indignation you would cower, like the guilty thing you are, had I liberty and my good sword to revenge your baseness!  Go, use me as you will, use me as you dare, M. d’Aulney, but remember the day of vengeance may ere long arrive.”

“My day of vengeance has arrived,” returned D’Aulney, and his eye flashed with rage; “and you will rue the hour in which you provoked my slumbering wrath.”

“Your wrath has never slumbered,” replied La Tour, “and my hatred to you will mingle with the last throb of my existence.  Like an evil demon, you have followed me through life; you blighted the hopes of my youth,—­the interests and ambition of my manhood have been thwarted by your machinations, and I have now no reason to look for mercy at your hands; still I defy your malice, and I bid you triumph at your peril.”

“We have strong holds in that fort which you have so long wished to possess,” said D’Aulney, with provoking coolness; “and traitors, who are lodged there, have little chance of escape.”

La Tour refrained from replying, even by a glance:  the soldiers, at that moment, commenced their march; and guarded, with ostentatious care, he walked apart from the other prisoners towards the fort.  The angry aspect of his countenance yielded to an expression of calm contempt, and through the remainder of the way he preserved an unbroken silence.

In the mean time, De Valette had strictly obeyed the instructions of La Tour.  His appearance before the fort evidently excited much sensation there; and though he kept at a prudent distance, he could observe the garrison in motion, and ascertain from their various evolutions, that they were preparing for a vigorous defence.  He ordered his vessel to be put in a state for action, and waited impatiently to see the standard of D’Aulney supplanted by that of De la Tour.  But his illusions were dispelled by the return of a boat with the prisoners, taken at the farm-house, and a few soldiers who had escaped by flight from the fate of their companions.  Vexed and mortified by a result so unexpected, De Valette hesitated what course to pursue.  La Tour had not thought necessary to provide for such an exigence, as he never admitted the possibility of falling a prisoner into the hands of D’Aulney.  His lieutenant, therefore, determined to sail for Pemaquid, to seek assistance, which would enable him, at least, to recover the liberty of La Tour.  He also hoped to gain some information respecting Stanhope, whose services at that crisis were particularly desirable.

M. d’Aulney had returned to his fort unexpectedly on the morning of that day; and the approach of La Tour was betrayed to him by a boy, who escaped from the farm-house, at the beginning of the skirmish.  Nothing could have gratified his revenge more completely, than to obtain possession of the person of his rival; and this long desired object was thus easily attained, at a moment when least expected.