ville but known it. Persuaded, however, that
his last hour was come, he made a desperate effort to clear himself,
whereupon Fletcher cut off a piece of his skin by mistake. Maisonville,
making sure that he had been scalped, stood groaning and clapping his
hand to his head, while the two young rascals drew back and stared at
each other.

"What's to do now?" said Willis.

"Take our medicine, I reckon," answered Fletcher, grimly. And they
seized the tottering man between them, and marched him straightway to
the fire where Clark stood.

They had seen the Colonel angry before, but now they were fairly
withered under his wrath. And he could have given them no greater
punishment, for he took them from the firing line, and sent them back to
wait among the reserves until the morning.

"Nom de Dieu!" said Maisonville, wrathfully, as he watched them go,
"they should hang."

"The stuff that brought them here through ice and flood is apt to boil
over, Captain," remarked the Colonel, dryly.

"If you please, sir," said I, "they did not mean to cut him, but he
wriggled."

Clark turned sharply.

"Eh?" said he, "did you have a hand in this, too?"

"Peste!" cried the Captain, "the little ferret--you call him--he find
me on the prairie. I run to catch him with some men and fall into the
crick--" he pointed to his soaked leggings, "and your demons, they fall
on top of me."

"I wish to heaven you had caught Lamothe instead, Davy," said the
Colonel, and joined despite himself in the laugh that went up. Falling
sober again, he began to question the prisoner. Where was Lamothe?
Pardieu, Maisonville could not say. How many men did he have, etc.,
etc.? The circle about us deepened with eager listeners, who uttered
exclamations when Maisonville, between his answers, put up his hand to
his bleeding head. Suddenly the circle parted, and Captain Bowman came
through.

"Ray has discovered Lamothe, sir," said he. "What shall we do?"

"Let him into the fort," said Clark, instantly.

There was a murmur of astonished protest.

"Let him into the fort!" exclaimed Bowman.

"Certainly," said the Colonel; "if he finds he cannot get in, he will be
off before the dawn to assemble the tribes."

"But the fort is provisioned for a month," Bowman expostulated; "and
they must find out to-morrow how weak we are."

"To-morrow will be too late," said Clark.

"And suppose he shouldn't go in?"

"He will go in," said the Colonel, quietly. "Withdraw