or himself and live among
them.

"But why not remain in the fort?" asked miladi. "What charm can you find
with those ignorant people? Though perhaps peas and beans, radishes and
cabbages may console one for more intellectual pursuits."

"I shall only spend the days with them at present," he returned, with a
smile.

And now again came the influx of the fur-traders. It had been a good
season and from the new settlement of Montreal to Tadoussac, vessels
were packing away the precious freight. Champlain had gone with a body
of soldiers to help defend a town the Iroquois had threatened to attack.
The missions thus far had borne no fruit. Indeed the new teaching of the
Recollets in its severity was not pleasant. The Hurons were seized with
a panic after losing several of their leaders and the Sieur was wounded.
All winter the people at Quebec waited anxiously for their leader, and
parties set out to see if they could find any tidings. At last they were
sighted, and great was the joy at finding their beloved chieftain well
and unharmed. But he was not allowed to remain long in his pet
settlement. There were disputes and altercations, and he was summoned to
France.

"Another year we shall go ourselves," announced Laurent Giffard to his
wife. "We have enough now to make ourselves comfortable, and I doubt if
the company can weather through. At all events I shall be glad to be
well out of it. Art thou glad of the prospect?"

"There is great commotion with the King and his mother, and between
Huguenot and Catholic," she made answer slowly. "Does the Sieur
Destournier throw up his schemes in disgust as well?"

"Ah, I think he is wedded to the soil. The Governor trusts everything to
him, and Du Parc, and both are capable men. But truth to tell I have
lost faith in the colony. I hear the Virginians and the Bostonnais are
doing much better. France cannot, or will not, spend the money, nor send
the men to put the place on a sure foundation. The Indians grow more
troublesome. They hate being meddled with by the priests. They take
wives when they want them, and send them away when they are tired of
them. They torture prisoners--some day the priests will have a taste of
it themselves."

"They are all horrible," she said, with a shiver.

"And we will go back to La Belle France. I fancy I can manage a sort of
preferment with Dubissay, who has the ear of the Queen mother at
present. At all events I am tired of this turmoil, and thou