“Room and to spare,” replied the hunter, “but as you say, Father Drouillard, you and I have lived longer than these youths, and age has to think.  If left to themselves I’ve no doubt that New France and the English colonies could make a lasting peace, but the intrigues, the jealousies and the hates of the courts at London and Paris keep our forests, four thousand miles away, astir.  When the Huron buries his arrow in the heart of a foe the motive that sent him to the deed may have had its start in Europe, but the poor savage never knows it.”

The priest sighed, and looked at Willet with an awakened curiosity.

“I see that you’re a man of education,” he said, “and that you think.  What you say is true, but the time will come when other minds than those of vain and jealous courtiers will sway the fortunes of all these vast regions.  I have asked you nothing of your mission in Quebec, Mr. Willet, but I hope that I will see you again before you return.”

“I hope so too,” said the hunter sincerely.

The Frontenac now drew in to a wharf between the Royal Battery and the Dauphin’s Battery, and Robert was still all eyes for the picturesque sights that awaited him in the greatest French town of the New World.  De Galisonniere was hailed joyously by young officers and he made joyous replies.  Robert, as they landed, saw anew and in greater detail the immense strength of Quebec.

He beheld the line of huge earthworks that Frontenac had built from the river St. Charles to Cape Diamond, and he saw the massive redoubts lined with heavy cannon.  Now, he wondered at the boldness of the New Englanders who had assailed the town with so much vigor, and who might have taken it.

“I recommend to you,” said de Galisonniere, “that you go to the Inn of the Eagle in the Upper Town.  It is kept by Monsieur Berryer, who as a host is fully equal to Monsieur Jolivet of Montreal, and the merits of Monsieur Jolivet are not unknown to you.”

“They are not,” said Robert heartily, “and we may thank you, Captain de Galisonniere, for your great courtesy in bringing us from Montreal.  We can only hope for a time in which we shall be able to repay your kindness.”

After they had slipped some silver pieces to the boatmen and had said farewell to Captain de Galisonniere, they took their way up a steep street, a swarthy French-Canadian porter carrying their baggage.  Here, as at Montreal, the most attention was attracted by Tayoga, and, if possible, the young Onondaga grew more haughty in appearance and manner.  His moccasined feet spurned the ground, and he gazed about with a fierce and defiant eye.

Robert knew well what was stirring the spirit of the Onondaga.  This was not the Quebec of the French, it was the Stadacona of the Mohawks, the great brother nation of the Onondagas, and the French here were but interlopers and robbers.