"I should very much prefer," said Claude "to go to Canso."
"To Canso!" said the priest, in great surprise; "to Canso! Why, you would come on our track!"
"That is the very reason why I wish to go there. Once in Canso, I should be as safe as in Annapolis."
"From what I hear, Canso cannot be a safe place for you very long. England and France are on the eve of war, and Cazeneau expects to get back Acadie--a thing that is very easy for him to do. But why do you wish to venture so near to Louisburg? Cazeneau will be there now; and it will be a very different place from what it would have been had you not saved Cazeneau from the wreck, and made him your enemy."
"My dear Père Michel," said Claude, "I will be candid with you. The reason why I wish to go in that direction is for the sake of being near to Mimi, and on account of the hope I have that I may rescue her."
"Mimi! Rescue her!" exclaimed the priest, astonished, not at the young man's feelings towards Mimi, for those he had already discovered, but rather at the boldness of his plan,--"rescue her! Why how can you possibly hope for that, when she will be under the vigilant eye of Cazeneau?"
"I will hope it, at any rate," said Claude. "Besides, Cazeneau will not be vigilant, as he will not suspect that he is followed. His Indians will suspect nothing. I may be able, by means of my Indians, to entice her away, especially if you prepare her mind for my enterprise."
The priest was struck by this, and did not have any argument against it; yet the project was evidently distasteful to him.
"It's madness," said he. "My poor boy, it may cost you your life."
"Very well," said Claude; "let it go. I'd rather not live, if I can't have Mimi."
The priest looked at him sadly and solemnly.
"My poor boy," said he, "has it gone so far as that with you?"
"As far as that--yes," said Claude, "and farther. Recollect I saved her life. It seems to me as if Heaven threw her in my way; and I'll not give her up without striking a blow. Think of that scoundrel Cazeneau. Think of the danger she is in while under his power. There is no hope for her if he once gets her in Louisbourg; the only hope for her is before she reaches that place; and the only one who can save her is myself. Are my Indians faithful for an enterprise of that kind?"