owed us far," he said, "but this is not the ground
that suits him. The forest is better than a city for the laying of an
ambush."

"Still, we'll watch him," said Willet.

The evening witnessed the arrival at the Inn of the Eagle of two new
guests to whom Monsieur Berryer paid much deference, Colonel de
Courcelles and Captain de Jumonville, who had been on an expedition in
behalf of His Majesty, King Louis, into the forests of the south and
west, and who, to the great surprise of the innkeeper, seemed to be well
acquainted with the three.

Robert, Tayoga and Willet were having their dinner, or supper as it
would have been called in the Province of New York, when the two
Frenchmen dressed in their neat, close-fitting uniforms and with all the
marks of travel removed, came into the large room. They rose at once and
exchanged greetings. Robert, although he did not trust them, felt that
they had no cause of quarrel with the two, and it was no part of his
character to be brusque or seek trouble.

De Courcelles gave them a swift, comprehensive glance, and then said,
as if they were chance visitors to Quebec:

"You've arrived ahead of us, I see, and as I learn, you find the Marquis
Duquesne away. Perhaps, if your letters are urgent, you would care to
present them to the Intendant, Monsieur Bigot, a man of great perception
and judgment."

Robert turned his examining look with interest. Was he also one of
Bigot's men, or did he incline to the cause of the _honnetes gens?_ Or,
even if he were not one of Bigot's followers, did he prefer that
Robert's mission should fail through a delivery of his letters to the
wrong man? Bigot certainly was not one with whom the English could deal
easily, since so far as Robert could learn he was wrapped in the folds
of a huge conceit.

"We might do that," the youth replied, "but I don't think it's quite
proper. I make no secret of the fact that I bear letters for the
Governor General of Canada, and it would not be pleasing to the Governor
of the Province of New York for me to deliver them to someone else."

"It was merely a suggestion. Let us dismiss it."

He did not speak again of the immediate affairs that concerned them so
vitally, but talked of Paris, where he had spent a gay youth. He saw the
response in the glowing eyes of Robert, and exerted himself to please.
Moreover his heart was in his subject. Quebec was a brilliant city for
the New World, but Paris was the center of the who