ce is but
an extension of the family of Louis. The intendant reports everything to
the king. Monsieur So-and-so is married. Very well, the king must know
it! Monsieur's eldest daughter is making sheep's eyes at such and such a
soldier of the regiment of the king. Very well, this is weighty matter,
of which the king must be advised! Monsieur's wife becomes expectant of
a son and heir. 'Tis meet that Louis the Great should be advised of
this! Mother of God! 'Tis a pretty mess enough back there on the St.
Lawrence, where not a hen may cackle over its new-laid egg but the king
must know it, and where not a family has meat enough for its children to
eat nor clothes enough to cover them. My faith, in that poor medley of
little lords and lazy vassals, how can you wonder that the best of us
have risen and taken to the woods! Yet 'tis we who catch their beaver
for them; and if God and the king be willing, sometime we shall get a
certain price for our beaver--provided God and the king furnish currency
to pay us; and that the governor, the priest and the intendant ratify
the acts of God and the king!"

Law smiled at the sturdy vehemence of the other's speech, yet there was
something of soberness in his own reply.

"Sir," said he, "you see here my little crooked rows of maize. Look you,
the beaver will pass away, but the roots of the corn will never be torn
out. Here is your wealth, Du Mesne."

The sturdy captain scratched his head. "I only know, for my part," said
he, "that I do not care for the settlements. Not that I would not be
glad to see the king extend his arm farther to the West, for these
sullen English are crowding us more and more along our borders. Surely
the land belongs to him who finds it."

"Perhaps better to him who can both find and hold it. But this soil will
one day raise up a people of its own."

"Yet as to that," rejoined Du Mesne, as the two turned and walked back
to the stockade, "we are not here to handle the affairs of either Louis
or William. Let us e'en leave that to monsieur the intendant, and
monsieur the governor, and our friends, the gray owls and the black
crows, the Recollets and the Jesuits. I mind to call this spot home with
you, if you like. I shall be back as soon as may be with the things we
need, and we shall plant here no starving colony, but one good enough
for the home of any man. Monsieur, I wish you very well, and I may
congratulate you on your daughter. A heartier infant never was