Réné gave the countersign, and added, "It is I, Réné de Veaux, good
Simon. Hearing thy groans, I came to learn their cause. What
distresses thee so grievously?"

"Ah! Master De Veaux," answered the old soldier, "I fear me greatly
that the fever of the bones with which so many of our men are suffering
has at length laid hold on me, I have been warned for some days of its
approach, and only a few hours since obtained from good Master Le Moyne
physic which, if taken at the outset, prevents much pain. I left it in
the smithy near the forge, not deeming the attack so near; but the
chill of the night air hath hastened it, and already am I suffering the
torments of the rack. Tell me, lad, wilt thou fetch me the phial from
the smithy, that I may test the virtue of its contents?"

"Not so, good Simon," answered Réné, whose thoughts had been busy while
the old soldier told of his troubles. "I will gladly aid thee, but am
convinced that it can better be done in another way. Go thou for the
physic, for thou canst more readily place hands upon it than I, and at
the same time apparel thyself in garments thicker and more suited to
the chill of the night than those thou wearest. I will stand watch
until thy return, and pledge thee my word that none shall pass, or be
the wiser for thy absence."

All his soldier's training forbade Simon to accept this offer. To
desert his post, even though he left it guarded by another, would, he
knew, be considered one of the gravest military crimes. Therefore the
struggle in his mind between duty on the one side and his sufferings on
the other was long and pitiful.

Finally pain conquered. "Well, well, Master Réné," he said, gruffly,