244 OVER ON THE ISLAND

would wait until the new British settlers began to come in, then they would creep up on each new home and assassinate all the occupants. It was a satisfying scheme though it took so long.

“Year after year passed. Still, the trader and the braves waited for their revenge.

“Finally, the day dawned.

“Six canoes, with two in each, left the waters of Miminegash in search of revenge. Swiftly they paddled. The sky lowered threateningly. Still, they kept on, oblivious of their danger. Suddenly, with a loud crash, the storm broke loose and poured its wrath on the luckless voyageurs. The six canoes overturned. And only one man was left clinging to the canoe—the trader himself. What would have happened is evident. The trader was saved only by the intervention of a strong arm pulling him into a heaving row-boat. Then he knew no more, no more for ten long days.

“The man whom he had planned to kill had saved him instead. The thought burned itself into the trader’s fevered brain. Not only did he save him but, during the long hours of his convalescence, he changed his spirit. Years later, when troops were recruited to fight against the invading Americans, the trader and the Scotsman marched to battle together. The trader's revenge was completed.

“‘I fight with the English against the English,’ he said, and laughed mirthlessly.”

“I suppose these stories are true?" Jean inquired suspiciously.

“ Certainly! Certainly! Now there’s a story about a lame French boy who scalped the Indians ”

“You mean, whom the Indians scalped

H