The Coolidge examiner., 1931-07-10

enough to take advantage of the
freedom of movement the British
gave to French soldiers who had
been wounded, he thought fire.
quentIy Of the three-legged dog
that had passed between the
French and English lines. He said
nothing of the incident, not even
to Mere de Sainte-Claude, the
Superior, who took a special inter-
est in him, nor 10 any of her virgin
sisters who cared for him so ten
derly in the dark hours of his
struggle for life and the more
hopeful ones of his cOnvalescence.
Each day of increasing strength
added to his suspicion that what
he had seen and heard were the
Illusions of senses crumbling under
the effects of hurt and shock, and
he kept to himself whatever faith
he had in them.
When at last he was able to
mingle with the diSarmed pOpulace
and the crowds of soldiers in the
streets, he was strangely unlike
the old JeemS. He had been badly
wounded and realized that moth
ing less than a miraculous inter-
vention which the nuns ascribed to
the mercy of God could have kept
him beyond the reach of death.
A ball had passed through his
shoulder when three others struck
him at the discharge of the Eng
lish guns. That they had failed to
kill him he did not accept as a
blessing. The impression grew in
him that he had been very close
to his mother and Toinette and
that fate not satisfied with his
unhappiness had drawn him back
from them. This thought estab-
liShed his belief that Odds appear
ance as we'll as his mothers voice
and the nearness of TOinette had
been purely spiritual.
But whenever he saw a dog in
the streets of Quebec he looked to
see if one foot was missing.
His excursions were short and
he wandered alone. He saw
number of his comrades, but they
did not recognize him and he did
not feel the impulse to let them
know who he was. Flesh had
dropped from his bones until he
resembled one approaching death
instead of escaping it. He walked
with stopped shoulders. His eyes
were sunken, and his hands, IN
one of which he carried a staff.
were emacigted to the thinness of
extreme age. The small interest
life had held for him seemed TO
have shriveled with the strength
of his body. The English rekindled
the spark, his mothers English,
the half of himself which he had
tried to hate. They were not act
ing the part of conquerors. They
Observation-Disclosures. From
the gallant Brigadier Murray to
the cOmmonest soldier, they were
courteous, humane. generous, di-
viding their rations with the
starved citizens, sharing their to-
bacco with them, helping without
pay to build up ruined homes. each
day working themselves deeper
into the good will of those who
had been cheated and despOiled by
Governor Vaudreuil and his de
generate crowd and by the weak
ness of the king of France. Even
the nuns and the priests welcomed
them, men and women of God who
for two hundred years had fought
indefatigably for New France.
Honor and chivalry had come to
conquer Quebec and had brought
such friendship for its people that
a British soldier was hanged in
the public square for stealing from
a resident of the town.
Jeems felt this comradeship Of
his enemies. At first he was
taciturn and aloof and talked only
when courtesy required the effort
of him. He observed that many
eyes regarded him with a pity
which added shame to the burden
of his distress, and at times when
he was struggling to hold his
stopped shoulders erect, sympathet-
ic hands came to help him in
spite of himself. His health re-
turned slowly, but in the second
week of his freedom an incident
occurred which sent a warmer
glow through his veins. He heard
two soldiers talking on the street.
They were talking about a dog
a three-legged dog that passed in
front of their line as they had
stood ready to fire upon the
French.
When he returned to the little
room which he still occupied in
the general hospital Mere de
Sainte-Claude thought fever had
set itself upon him again. The
next day. he went out looking for
the dog and found others who had
beheld what his own eyes had
seen. But he asked no questions
except in casual way, and did
not reveal the reason for his in
terest. He knew the dog could not
be Odd, yet it was Odd for whom
he was seeking. This paradoxical
state of mind bothered him, and
he wondered if his illness had left
him entirely sane. To think Odd
had escaped Tiaoga's vengeance
and had wandered through hun
dreds of miles of wilderness to
Quebec would surely be an indica-
tion that it had not. He continued
to seek, trying to believe he was
making the quest a diversion which
was healthful for his body, and
that curiosity not homo Or faith