But I would not take his hand on those terms.

"Don't!" I said roughly. "You cannot wish me success. It will mean
failure to you--to your people. No, we are foes, and let us wear our
colors honestly. Again, I wish you good-day," and, bowing, I raised
the latch, and made my way out of the commandant's door.




CHAPTER IV

IN THE OTTAWA CAMP

Chance was disposed to be in a good humor. I had scarcely stepped into
the crowd when I saw Pierre.

I went to him knowing that I should find opportunity for reproof, but
should probably lack the will. For Pierre was my harlequin, and what
man can easily censure his own amusements even when he sees their harm?
Then there was more to make me lenient. The man's family had served my
own for as many generations as the rooks had builded in our yews, and
so, on one side at least, he inherited blind loyalty to my name. I say
on one side, for his blood was mixed; his father had married a vagrant,
a half-gypsy Irish girl who begged among the villages. It was the
union of a stolid ox and a wildcat, and I had much amusement watching
the two breeds fight for the mastery in the huge Pierre. The cat was
quicker of wit, but the ox was of more use to me in the long run, so I
tried to keep an excess of stimulants--whether of brandy or
adventure--out of Pierre's way.