ld tramp out on snowshoes, but could not carry his pack of furs. He
had long known that he had neighbours on the south; the camp fire smoke
proved that, and he had come now to offer all his furs for sale.

Quonab shook his head, but Rolf said, "We'll come over and see them."

A two-hours' tramp in the morning brought them to the Frenchman's cabin.
He opened out his furs; several otter, many sable, some lynx, over
thirty beaver--the whole lot for two hundred dollars. At Lyons Falls
they were worth double that.

Rolf saw a chance for a bargain. He whispered, "We can double our money
on it, Quonab. What do ye say?"

The reply was simply, "Ugh! you are Nibowaka."

"We'll take your offer, if we can fix it up about payment, for I have no
money with me and barely two hundred dollars at the cabin."

"You half tabac and grosairs?"

"Yes, plenty."

"You can go 'get 'em? Si?"

Rolf paused, looked down, then straight at the Frenchman.

"Will you trust me to take half the fur now; when I come back with the
pay I can get the rest."

The Frenchman looked puzzled, then, "By Gar you look de good look. I let
um go. I tink you pretty good fellow, parbleu!"

So Rolf marched away with half the furs and four days later he was back
and paid the pale-faced but happy Frenchman the one hundred and fifty
dollars he had received from Van Cortlandt, with other bills making one
hundred and ninety-five dollars and with groceries and tobacco enough to
satisfy the trapper. The Frenchman proved a most amiable character.
He and Rolf took to each other greatly, and when they shook hands at
parting, it was in the hope of an early and happier meeting.

Francois la Colle turned bravely for the ninety-mile tramp over the snow
to his home, while Rolf went south with the furs that were to prove
a most profitable investment, shaping his life in several ways, and
indirectly indeed of saving it on one occasion.

Chapter 68. War

Eighteen hundred and twelve had passed away. President Madison, driven
by wrongs to his countrymen and indignities that no nation should meekly
accept, had in the midsummer declared war on Great Britain. Unfitted to
cope with the situation and surrounded by unfit counsellors, his little
army of heroic men led by unfit commanders had suffered one reverse
after another.

The loss of Fort Mackinaw, Chicago, Detroit, Brownstown, and the total
destruction of the American army that attacked Queenstown were but
poorly offs