“Now this, as you see, sounds very fair, and part of it I know to be true.  The man is certainly in earnest—­about something,—­and has spent great time and endeavor in this search.  He has even been to Quebec, and worked on Frontenac’s sympathies, for he bears from the governor a letter of safe conduct to me, and another, from the Jesuits, to Father Carheil.  He comes—­apparently—­on no political mission; he is alone, and his tale is entirely plausible.  There is but one course open to me.  I must let him go on.

“But I do it with misgivings.  The story is fair, but I can tell a fair story myself upon occasion, and there is no great originality in this one.  I remember that you said after your first interview with your Englishman, that you were afraid he was a spy.  There is always that danger,—­a danger that Frontenac underestimates because he has not grasped the possibilities that we have here.  If both these men should prove to be spies, and in collusion——­ Well, they are brave men, and crafty; it will be the greater pleasure to outwit them.  I cannot overlook the fact that the first Englishman was brought here by the Baron’s band of Hurons, and that this man selects his messengers from the same dirty clan.  I have reason to think he was in communication with them before he came,—­which is no credit to a white man.  Dubisson, my lieutenant, tells me that a Huron told his Indian servant that pictures of the prisoner drawn on bark had been scattered among the Indians for a fortnight past.  The story was roundabout, and I could not run it down.  But it makes me watchful.

“So this is where we stand.  I must give this man Starling a letter to you.  The letter will be official, and will direct you to deliver your prisoner into Starling’s hands.  If he finds you, you have no choice but to obey; so, if you think from your further knowledge of your prisoner that it is unwise for these two men to meet, it is your cue not to be found.  I leave it with you.

“There is, of course, great doubt whether this will find you.  You asked me about Onanguissee so I infer that you will stop at the islands at the mouth of La Baye, and I shall send the Indian girl directly there.  I shall suggest to Starling that he hug the coast line, and search each bay, and if he listens to me, the girl should reach you well in advance.  But it is all guess-work.  Starling may have spies among the Indians, and know exactly where you are.  I wish he were out of the way.  Granted that his errand is fair, he will still see too much.  For all men, in whatever state they are born, lack neither vanity nor ambition, and this man is accustomed to command.  It is a crack in the dike, and I do not like it.