capable of tricking a confederate.  No Englishman understands an Indian, and if he had patronized Pemaou the Huron would have retaliated in just this way.  I grew sick with the maze of my thought.  But one thing I grasped.  With part of the Senecas in the French camp, we Frenchmen would be spared for a time.  We would be convenient for exchange, or to exact terms of compromise.  They might torture us, but they would keep us alive till the issue of this expedition was known.

All about me were preparations for a permanent camp.  This puzzled me for a time, but I soon worked out the reason.  They were afraid to march with their full force on Michillimackinac, for they feared the friendship of the western tribes for the French, and thought that if a large war party marched openly toward the garrison these tribes would rally to Cadillac’s defense.  So this camp was kept as watch-dog for the western region.  I prayed that Cadillac keep his judgment cool.

One thing brought smiles that I had to turn into vacant and misleading laughter.  Through all the talk ran my name,—­that they did not know was mine.  They had heard that I was stirring among the western tribes, and that I was making them dangerous.  They spoke of my knowledge of Indian tongues, and added apocryphal tales of my feats of wit and daring.  My image loomed large, and it was no wonder that they did not connect this mythical Colossus with the swaggering royster who played buffoon for their mirth.  I wondered that Pemaou had not told them, but I reflected that there is a mutual distrust among Indians that takes the place of reticence, and that that had saved me.  I had escaped for the moment, but the ice was thin.  I should be given short shrift once my name was known.

The day passed, warm and lovely in the woods and on the water, hideous and sweltering in the stench of the camp.  I saw captives die of heat and flies, but I could do nothing.  My men took cue from me, and we all laughed and chaffered.  I even took a turn at spear throwing, but was too discreet to win.  I gained some good-will, perhaps, but nothing more, and when the stars came out that night I ground my teeth to think of how little I had accomplished, and of the slender opportunity ahead.

But the next morning I saw a straw to grasp.  Up to that time we had been left to the guardianship of all the camp, but the second day I saw that the huge brave to whom I was tied at night followed me incessantly.  I watched, and saw that my men had similar attendants.  This was a gain, as I said to Labarthe.  I did not try to have connected speech with the men, but by saying a word at a time as we passed we could patch together a few sentences.

From that on I gave the day to winning my special jailer.  He was an intelligent Indian and inclined to be good-humored.  I amused him, and when I took a net and motioned that we go to the swamp to fish he grunted and agreed.