perhaps you would pick a few men and go back into the woods to
see what these villains are doing?"

"I shall be ready in five minutes."

"Perhaps you would like to go also, Achille?" His son's dark eyes and
Indian face lit up with a fierce joy.

"Yes, I shall go also," he answered.

"Very good, and we shall make all ready in your absence. Madame, you
will excuse these little annoyances which mar the pleasure of your
visit. Next time that you do me the honour to come here I trust that we
shall have cleared all these vermin from my estate. We have our
advantages. The Richelieu is a better fish pond, and these forests are
a finer deer preserve than any of which the king can boast. But on the
other hand we have, as you see, our little troubles. You will excuse me
now, as there are one or two things which demand my attention.
De Catinat, you are a tried soldier and I should be glad of your advice.
Onega, give me my lace handkerchief and my cane of clouded amber, and
take care of madame until her husband and I return."

It was bright daylight now, and the square enclosure within the stockade
was filled with an anxious crowd who had just learned the evil tidings.
Most of the _censitaires_ were old soldiers and trappers who had served
in many Indian wars, and whose swarthy faces and bold bearing told their
own story. They were sons of a race which with better fortune or with
worse has burned more powder than any other nation upon earth, and as
they stood in little groups discussing the situation and examining their
arms, a leader could have asked for no more hardy or more war-like
following. The women, however, pale and breathless, were hurrying in
from the outlying cottages, dragging their children with them, and
bearing over their shoulders the more precious of their household goods.
The confusion, the hurry, the cries of the children, the throwing down
of bundles and the rushing back for more, contrasted sharply with the
quiet and the beauty of the woods which encircled them, all bathed in
the bright morning sunlight. It was strange to look upon the fairy
loveliness of their many-tinted foliage, and to know that the spirit of
murder and cruelty was roaming unchained behind that lovely screen.

The scouting party under Du Lhut and Achille de la Noue had already
left, and at the order of the seigneur the two gates were now secured
with huge bars of oak fitted into iron staples on either side.
The children wer