The venison was thick and dark red; as soft as cheese; and when we had eaten every last scrap of it and the bread, washing it down with rum and water, I felt almost rested. My muscles still shook with weariness, but my agony of uncertainty over Nathaniel was at last ended—or so I fancied.

He was safe, I said to myself. Nathaniel was safe. There had been no woman’s voice. My wits had been rambling. And then, as though my tongue formed the words independent of my wishes, I found myself saying to Lanaudiere: “I thought I heard a lady’s voice while you were gone. It couldn’t be your niece I heard, surely?”

Lanaudiere smiled. “My dear friend! All your questions will, of course, be answered in due time; but first I hope you will consent to satisfy my own curiosity. We are in the dark, you see.”

I knew, then, that I had heard a woman’s voice, and that it had been the voice of Marie de Sabrevois. Otherwise he would have given me a fair answer. Marie de Sabrevois was with Lanaudiere, among these advance scouts of the British, up to some deviltry or other. It was to her that Lanaudiere had just carried Nathaniel, and my thought was: “God help my brother now!”

“We heard the ships’ guns,” Lanaudiere said, “but we have no definite news yet. I take it your fleet was destroyed?”

I tried to think fast. Lanaudiere had imposed on us: had somehow used us when he landed in America, though I was not certain how he had done it. His niece—if she was his niece—was a spy. A hellcat, Cap Huff had called her. If they could use me again, they would do so, and I had no intention of being used again.

“Destroyed?” I asked. “Why, no! One of our galleys was a little crippled, and we had to run her ashore.”

“One of your galleys!” Lanaudiere cried. “You mean to say we sank only one of your galleys?”

“I don’t believe there was more than one,” I said. “To tell you the truth, after I saw a number of our vessels safely on their way to Crown Point, I paid no more attention to them. There was a good deal to attend to on our own galley.”

Lanaudiere stared up at the roof of the tent and smiled faintly.

“Of course,” I said hastily, “we didn’t much care what happened, since we’d accomplished our object.”

“Indeed!” Lanaudiere said. “And what was that, if it’s not asking too much?”

“I thought everybody knew,” I said. “We only wanted to delay you so your army couldn’t cross the lake this year. That being done, we have no further use for the fleet.”