with
the natives, there might be some hope of soothing their ferocity and
averting an outbreak of their insane rage; but nothing can be done
with the Jesuit--more subtle than the serpent, more fell than the
Hyrcanian tiger."

"Have the disciples of Loyola penetrated to this fierce tribe?"
inquired Sir Christopher.

"Art thou ignorant that the cunning father Le Jeune, the daring
Brebeuf, and I know not what instigators of mischief besides, are said
to be among them? Pity is it truly that so much learning and so great
zeal should be expended in so bad a cause."

"It was known before I left England that these men had made some
little progress among the natives in Southern America, where gold and
silver abound; but who would have looked for them in these colder and
comparatively inhospitable regions? May there not be some error in
this matter, and our fears of the dreaded Order have converted
interested and malignant traders into members of the so-styled Company
of Jesus?"

"It may be so, for our information is not so accurate as I wish; but
this we do know, that a strange activity hath of late manifested
itself in the movements of these foul conspirators, against
uncorrupted Christianity the world over; and only a short time since
was it that godly Mr. Eliot discovered, on the neck of a squaw, one of
their brass idols made into the image of the Crucified, which, in
righteous indignation, he took away from the woman. Deluded and
deluding, alas, if they have found their way into this land!"

"It is not necessary to suppose the presence of any member of the
Company of Jesus, in order to account for the image on the neck of the
Indian woman. The French traders are Catholics, and one of them might
have given it to her."

"True; yet doth my jealous mind connect these men with every
perversion and corruption of Gospel truth. They are at this moment as
well the plotting mind as the executing arm of the rotten Church of
Rome. The spirit of Loyola would seem lately to have left Hades, to
animate his followers upon earth. Be sure, Sir Christopher, that where
error and mischief are, there is the Jesuit."

"It is ever a consolation," said the Knight, devoutly, "and in
especial in these troublous times, that the Founder of the Church hath
promised to be with her to the end of the world, and that the gates of
hell shall not prevail against her."

"If they have stolen among the innocent natives to intercept that
knowledge of d