He had chosen very good men for his recruits; for, though they talked
much among themselves, they drew a cordon of silence round their little
society of revolution. They vanished in the night, and Nic with them;
but he returned the next afternoon when the fire of excitement was at its
height. As he rode through the streets, people stopped him and poured
out questions; but he only shrugged his shoulders, and gave no
information, and neither denied nor affirmed anything.
Acting under orders, he had marched his company to make conjunction with
other companies at a point in the mountains twenty miles away, but had
himself returned to get the five thousand dollars gathered by Papineau's
agent. Now that the Rebellion was known, Nicolas intended to try and win
his father and his father's money and horses over to the cause.
Because Ferrol was an Englishman he made no confidant of him, and because
he was a dying man he saw in him no menace to the cause. Besides, was
not Ferrol practically dependent upon their hospitality? If he had
guessed that his friend knew accurately of his movements since the night
he had seen Vanne Castine hand him his commission from Papineau, he would
have felt less secure: for, after all, love--or prejudice--of country is
a principle in the minds of most men deeper than any other.
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