ch Lacroix was kept a prisoner by
friends of Dubois until the _Sainte-Vierge_ had sailed.

The gulf was fairly free from ice, and our journey to St. Boniface,
where we arrived on the fifth morning after our departure from Quebec,
had been an uneventful one. We had not seen the smoke of the _Claire_
behind us at any period during the voyage, and Dubois had not spared
his coal to show the other vessel his heels.

He left us at St. Boniface with a final caution against Leroux, and
proceeded along the shore with his bags of mail; but first he had a
satisfactory conversation with M. Danton concerning us.

I had given Dubois to understand that Jacqueline had been ill. I was
apprehensive that he might question her and so discover her mental
state; but the good man readily understood that an elopement causes
much mental anguish in the case of the feminine party--at least this
supposition was in line with the romantic requirements of the case,
according to all the books that the captain had ever read; and he
leaped at the hypothesis.

He not only forbore to question Jacqueline, but he explained the
situation to Danton, a friendly but taciturn old man who kept the store
and post-office at St. Boniface.

Danton, who of course knew Jacqueline, took the opportunity of assuring
me that her father, though a recluse and a misanthrope who had not left
his seigniory for forty years, was said to be a man of heart, and would
undoubtedly forgive us. He was clearly under the impression that we
were married, and, since Dubois had not enlightened him on this point,
I did not do so.

In fact, his ignorance again aroused in me elusive hopes--for if a
marriage _had_ occurred would he not have known, of it? At any rate, I
should know soon; and with this reflection I had to console myself.

Since Jacqueline was supposed to know the route, I could ask no direct
questions; but I gathered that the _chateau_ lay about a hundred and
twenty miles north-westward. For the first part of the journey we were
to travel along the right bank of the Riviere d'Or; at the point where
the mountains began there were some trappers' huts, and there doubtless
I could gain further information.

M. Danton had his sleigh and eight fine-looking dogs ready for us. I
purchased these outright in order to carry no hostages. We took with
us several days' supply of food, a little tent, sleeping-bags, and
frozen fish for the animals.

I must record that a small w