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Page 40
After their departure R�n� again entered the tunnel and made his way
back to its inner terminus. There he cautiously drew himself up from
its mouth, crept to the edge of the building beneath which it lay, and
watched and listened for what he might discover.
He had not been there a minute when he was startled by hearing a
smothered groan close at hand. Listening attentively, he heard it
again; and feeling confident that he who uttered it must be one of his
own countrymen, he began to creep carefully, and without betraying his
presence by the slightest sound, in the direction from which it
proceeded. At length he heard a third groan, so close to him that he
instinctively drew back for fear of coming into contact with the person
who uttered it. Then, in the lightest of whispers, he inquired,
"Who is there? I am R�n� de Veaux."
For answer came the whisper, "Heaven help thee, Master R�n�, if thou
art in like plight with myself! I am thy old friend Simon, sorely
wounded, and with no hope save that of falling into the hands of these
fiends of Spaniards when daylight shall enable them to make a thorough
search of the premises."
"Cheer up, good Simon, and speak not thus dolefully," whispered R�n�.
"If thou canst walk, or even crawl, I can save thee. Where lies thy
wound?"
"Not so that it interferes with my crawling or even walking; for though
it seems to lie in several portions of my body at once, it affects not
my legs. If thou hast knowledge of a chance of escape, however
slender, lead on, and I will gladly follow thee, for hopes I have none
in remaining here."
So R�n� guided Simon very slowly and cautiously to the mouth of the
tunnel. Through it the old man forced his way, and with much
difficulty and many groans, until he too reached the river-bank in
safety, and was sent on to join Laudonniere and Le Moyne, and with them
to make an effort to reach the ships.
Then once more did the brave lad make his way back through the narrow
tunnel and to the outer edge of the house above its inner entrance.
Here, as before, he listened and awaited in the hope of discovering
other unfortunates whom he might aid to escape.
As he lay there watching, he listened with a swelling heart to the
triumphant songs and shouts of the Spaniards, and the cries of the
victims, whose hiding-places were still occasionally discovered, and
who were instantly put to death. Suddenly the smouldering embers of a
fire near by were fanned into a momentary blaze that caused him to
withdraw hastily beneath the building lest he should be discovered. As
he did so his eye lighted on a pile of books and papers that had been
tossed from the windows of the building beneath which he was concealed.
Even in that glance he recognized them as belonging to his uncle, and
being the same that he had helped to pack when the fort was abandoned.
Realizing their importance, and despairing of being able to afford
further aid to any of the recent occupants of the fort, R�n� determined
to attempt to save these papers. It was a bold undertaking, for to
reach them he was obliged to leave the shelter of the building and
advance some distance into the open, where at any moment he might be
revealed to his enemies by flashes of firelight from the smouldering
timbers near by. Fully realizing the risk he ran, but undismayed by
it, the brave boy made several trips to and from the pile of books and
papers. He had removed nearly all of them to the tunnel, which he felt
to be the only safe place for them, when he suddenly became aware that
morning was near at hand, and that the rapidly increasing light of day
had made his task doubly dangerous.
Knowing, however, that all that were left could be carried on one more
trip, he determined to make it. Just as he gathered into his arms the
last of the papers to save which he was risking his life, a yell of
delight announced that he was discovered. A quick glance revealed two
Spanish soldiers rushing towards him with levelled pikes, and gleaming
eyes that were red and bloodshot as those of the tiger who has tasted
blood.
With a rare presence of mind, and without dropping his precious bundle,
R�n� darted, not under the house, but into it through the main
entrance. Running through the long hall, which was still shrouded in
complete darkness, he sprang out of an open window at its rear end. As
he did so he heard his pursuers enter the house and begin an eager
search of its rooms, at the same time calling others of their comrades
to their assistance.
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