“As the only medical officer of the garrison, I feel justified in declining to go upon so desperate an expedition,” he said gravely.  “It would expose not only my own life to unnecessary peril, but the lives of many others as well.”

“And what say you, Lieutenant Helm?  Have you also personal scruples?”

I could detect a tremor in the younger officer’s voice, as he answered promptly.

“Captain Heald has before this seen me in time of danger,” he said quietly, “and can have no reason for ascribing cowardice to me.  But I will frankly say this, sir, and with all respect to my commanding officer, I believe such conference as now proposed with the hostile Indians yonder, at this late day, to be perfectly useless, and that every hour’s delay since the receipt of orders to evacuate the post has only tended to increase our danger and lessen our hope of escape.  I feel now that our only chance of safety lies in defending this stockade against attack until a rescue party from the East can reach us.  I have a young wife among the women of this garrison; to her I owe allegiance, as well as to the flag I serve.  Feeling as I do, Captain Heald, as a soldier I will obey any command you give, and will go forth upon this mission if ordered to do so, either in your company or alone; but I cannot volunteer for such service.  I believe it to be foolhardy, and that whoever undertakes it goes forth to almost certain death.”

“Then I shall go alone,” said Heald, sternly; “nor do I look forward to any such disastrous ending to so open a mission of peace.”

“Wait,” broke in Wells, impulsively.  “I have a final suggestion to make, if you are resolved to go.  There rode in my party hither a rattle-brained gallant, bearing a French commission, who ought to prove sufficiently reckless to lend you his companionship.  Faith! but I think it may well suit the fellow.  Besides, if he wore his French uniform it might have weight with the reds.”

“Who is he?” asked Heald, doubtfully.  “I seem not to have memory of him.”

“He calls himself Captain Villiers de Croix, and holds commission in the Emperor’s Guard.”

Scarcely were the words spoken when I was on my feet, all vestige of sleep gone from my eyes.  De Croix was hardly a friend of mine, since late developments, but he had been my comrade for many a league of hard forest travel, and I was unwilling to have him carelessly sacrificed in a venture regarding the danger of which he knew nothing.  Besides, I counted on his sword to aid in the defence of Mademoiselle.  I understood thoroughly the desperate chances of Indian treachery that lay before such a commission as was now proposed.  It was rash in the extreme; and only the terrors of our position could sanction such an experiment.  The savages that hemmed us in were already in an ugly mood, and fully conscious of their power.  To go forth to them, unarmed and uninvited, as Captain Heald coolly proposed doing, was to walk open-eyed into a trap which treachery might snap shut at any time.  It was not my purpose to halt De Croix, nor to stand between him and any adventure he might choose to undertake; but I could at least warn him, in a friendly spirit, of the imminent danger such a thing involved.