White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-02-12


business of hunting for scalps.
Almost at the door to Jeems' home,
war preparations were in progress,
for every landed baron along the Rich
ellen was training his vassal farmers,
and when the wind was right the
Bulains could hear family the twice-a-
week firing Of muskets at Tonteur
manor. Being free of the seigneurial
protection and laws, Henri did not go
to drill. Nor did Jeems. Yet Ton
teur rode frequently to their home,
especially when Hepsibah was there.
He was in better spirits than usual.
and it was all on account of Toinette.
he said. She was homesick for the
Richelieu. Her letters to him were
filled with longing for it, and she
declared that, in another twelve
months, when her schooling would be
finished, she wanted to live at the
manor and not in Quebec. That was
enough to make him happy, and he
laughed at the thought Of danger for
womenfolk along the Richelieu-in
the fortified places. The English and
their savages would not get nearer
than the lower end of Lake Cham
plain when war came; and they would
be driven from there very shortly,
and also from Lake George. But on
such an outlying farm as the Bulain
place, which had no protection what
ever, there was the possible peril of
wandering scalp hunters and he never
tired of urging Henri and Catherine
to make their home within the safety
Of the seigneurie.
He asked Jeems and Henri to come
to his drill, and that they did not re-
spond made no difference in his friend
ship. He could understand how hard
1t would be for Henri to prepare for
war against his wife's country, and his
secret alteration for Catherine was
greater because of her courage and
her faith in both peoples with the
catastrophe so near. 1t delighted him
to think that his own confidence was
q comfort to her, and the eagerness
with which she accepted his opinions
yond what Hepsibah considered in
telligent bounds in giving easement to
her mind. He did not guess what was
in Jeems' heart, nor did the boys IA
ther or mother. Only Hepsibah knew
fully what was there.
Early in the autumn, the trader took
Jeems on journey to the English fort
on Lake George, thence travelling into
the New York country, returning in
November. They found change in
Catherine. She was not less confident
or less contented in the paradise she
was helping to build, but something
had come into her life which she was
accepting bravely and courageously
and even with pride. One evening, she
spoke Of the military activities along
the Richelieu. Many river youths
were training with their elders, she
Jeems should not be among them.
While killing was wicked and mex
cusable, it was God-given privilege
to defend ones home and family. She
quoted Tonteur to substantiate her
belief that war would never reach
them, and she knew that Jeems would
not seek it any more than his father.
But she thought it would do no harm
for Jeems to prepare himself along
with the other young men of the
seigneurie.
To this suggestion Hepsibah's home
ly philosophy made objection. He told
Catherine the day was coming when
Jeems would be compelled to fight and
that he would have to choose one side
or the. other to champion. When that
day arrived, sentiment would not
stand in the way, for, with a world
in turmoil about them. one could not
be English and French at the same
time. No man could tell on which
side they would be when forced to 1t,
and as he despised traitor more than
anything else, it was his opinion that
Jeems should not be taught the ways
of war under the flag of France and
then, it might be, fight for the Eng
lish. Az a frontiersman, he main
tanned that the finest fighting man was
the Long Rifle, free wanderer of the
forests, Misunderstanding trained to
hundred greater things than the Ar.
ing Of musket in company with q
score of others. That was what Jeems
should be. AS Long Rifle he could
serve where honor and duty called him
when the act became necessary.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
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