innings of a town that was to be famous for heroic deeds, for men
of high courage, for quaintness that perpetuates old stories which are
perfect romances yet to-day after the lapse of three centuries.

There was a storehouse quite well fortified, there was a courtyard with
some fine walnut trees, and a few gardens stretching out with pleasant
greenery, while doves were flying about in wide circles, a reminder of
home. Ralph Destournier had a spirit of adventure and Champlain was a
great hero to him. Coming partly of Huguenot stock he had fewer chances
at home, and he believed there was more liberty in the new world, a
better outlook for a restless, eager mind.

He went on climbing over the sun-baked cliffs, while here and there in a
depression where rain could linger there were patches of verdure, trees
that somehow maintained a footing. How unlike the level old seaport town
where he had passed a good part of his youth, considered his
grandfather's heir, when in the turn of fortune's wheel the sturdy old
Huguenot had been killed in battle and his estates confiscated.

Something stirred up above him, not any small animal either. It crackled
the bushes and moved about with a certain agility. Could it be a deer?
He raised his gun.

Then a burst of song held him in amaze. It was not a bird, though it
seemed to mock several of them. There were no especial words or rhymes,
but the music thrilled him. He strode upward. Out of a leafy bower
peered a face, child or woman, he could not tell at first, a crown of
light, loose curling hair and two dark, soft merry eyes, a cherry-red
mouth and dimpled chin.

"Hello! How did you get up there?" he asked in his astonishment. Indians
sometimes lurked about.

"I climbed. You did not suppose I flew?"

The tone was merry rather than saucy, and taking a few steps nearer, he
saw she was quite a child. But she wore no cap and she shook the
wind-blown hair aside with a dainty gesture. There was a fearlessness
about her that charmed him.

"And you live--here?"

"Not here in the woods--no. But down in the town. Down there by the
garden, M'sieu Hebert and the General. And Maman has one. But I hate
working in it. So I ran away. Do you know what will happen to me when I
go back?"

"No, what?" with a sense of amusement. "Perhaps you will get no supper!"

"I shall be whipped. And to-morrow I shall not be let out of the garden.
When I get to be a woman I won't work in the garden. I won't e