ch more with.

"Another steamer came in t' fall, and Louis, thinking that t' trouble
had blown over, went aboard as usual. One of t' officers, thinking
that the man was just a fisherman, and as simple as most o' we, asked
him if he didn't know where a man called Louis Marteau was. 'Yes,"
said Louis, 'I knows he well. He be here to-day, and gone
to-morrow'--and with that he slips away, and was far enough in the
woods for safety long before the searching party landed.

"Louis, like old Bill, was as fond o' liquor as a cat is o' milk; and
when he got French brandy in him, he didn't care what he did. There be
only one law here which every one keeps, as you knows, Doctor, on this
coast. Whatever else you does, you must never touch t' property of
another settler, whether he be good or bad, or whether he be away
fishing, or whether he be in America. Because any time he may need to
come back, and that many are away summers fishing, if they can't leave
their homes locked and feel 'em safe, they can't live at all. So
everybody minds that law, whether it be written in St. John's or not.
There are new stages, yes, and houses, too, and plenty of 'em, and
boats hauled up, that men has left and gone to Canada years ago.
They're tumbling down right alongside folk as needs 'em as bad as gold
just for firewood, but ne'er a stick is touched come year, go
year--not till they rots or t' sea comes and carries 'em away.

"Well, Louis and a man called Tom Marling got some liquor aboard that
day, and started scrapping, Marling saying that Louis must be a crook
or he wouldn't steal another man's house. T' end of that was that
Louis shot Marling through the shoulder and nearly blew his arm off.

"Next spring a large bully sailed across t' Straits and four men
landed in my cove. It chanced that old Skipper Sam Brewer caught sight
of 'em, and he recognized Bill Portland from t' old days. T' other
three was Tom Marling's brothers. All t' men had guns, and old Skipper
Sam guessed they was after Louis. So he sent off his lad Mose to run
out to t' cape and give he warning. Though why he should I can't say.
Louis just said, 'All right, I'll be ready for 'em, boy,' and started
right in loading his two big guns and his rifle. Then he fixed up t'
windows and barred t' door, and when Mose come away he could see Louis
moving round inside and swearing enough to frighten t' fish off t'
coast for t' whole summer. Mose waited round out of sight all day to
se