is difficult to kill men with clubs. On the other hand they like us, and
find the English abhorrent. So they have virtually agreed to leave the
casting vote with you. They will come after sundown and demand that the
prisoner be given them for torture. If you agree, they will feel that
you have declared your position against the English; if you refuse"----
I broke off, and leaned back in the chair. I had not realized, till my
own voice stated it, how black a case we had in hand.

We sat in silence for a time. Cadillac scowled and beat his palm upon
his knee as a flail beats grain, and I knew he needed no words of mine.
I thought that he was going over his defenses in his mind, and I began to
calculate how many rounds of shot I had in my canoes, and to hope that my
men would not prove cravens. I knew, without argument with myself, that
the beaver lands did not need me half as much as I was needed here.

At length Cadillac looked up. "Do you think the prisoner is a spy?" he
asked.

I had dreaded this question. "I am afraid so, but judge of him yourself.
He speaks French."

Cadillac half rose. "He speaks French? Yet he is an Englishman?"

I nodded. "Undoubtedly an Englishman."

"And you made nothing of him?"

I could only shake my head. "Nothing. He tells the story that I should
tell if I were lying,--yet he may be telling the truth. He is a bundle
of inconsistencies; that may be nature or art. He may be a hot-headed