ar--eh? Pshaw! you shall see. I am nothing, eh? I am to walk on! Nic
Lavilette, once he steal the Cure's pig and--"

"See you there, Castine, I've had enough of that," was the half-angry,
half-amused interruption. "What are you after here?"

"What was I after five years ago?" was the meaning reply.

Lavilette's face suddenly flushed with fury. He gripped the window with
both hands, and made as if he would leap out; but beside Castine's face
there appeared another, with glaring eyes, red tongue, white vicious
teeth, and two huge claws which dropped on the ledge of the window in
much the same way as did Lavilette's.

There was a moment's silence as the man and the beast looked at each
other, and then Castine began laughing in a low, sneering sort of way.

"I'll shoot the beast, and I'll break your neck if ever I see you on
this farm again," said Lavilette, with wild anger.

"Break my neck--that's all right; but shoot this leetla Michael! When
you do that you will not have to wait for a British bullet to kill you.
I will do it with a knife--just where you can hear it sing under your
ear!"

"British bullet!" said Lavilette, excitedly; "what about a British
bullet--eh--what?"

"Only that the Rebellion's coming quick now," answered Castine, his
manner changing, and a look of cunning crossing his face. "You've given
your name to the great Papineau, and I am here, as you see."

"You--you--what have you got to do with the Revolution? with Papineau?"

"Pah! do you think a Lavilette is the only patriot! Papineau is my
friend, and--"

"Your friend--"

"My friend. I am carrying his message all through the parishes.
Bon'venture is the last--almost. The great General Papineau sends you a
word, Nic Lavilette--here."

He drew from his pocket a letter and handed it over. Lavilette tore it
open. It was a captain's commission for M. Nicolas Lavilette, with a
call for money and a company of men and horses.

"Maybe there's a leetla noose hanging from the tail of that, but
then--it is the glory--eh? Captain Lavilette--eh?" There was covert
malice in Castine's voice. "If the English whip us, they won't shoot us
like grand seigneurs, they will hang us like dogs."

Lavilette scarcely noticed the sneer. He was seeing visions of a
captain's sword and epaulettes, and planning to get men, money and
horses together--for this matter had been brooding for nearly a year,
and he had been the active leader in Bonaventure.

"We've been