"The price, monsieur. There was one killed by this prisoner, and three others who fell within the five minutes which followed. Yes, four were killed altogether, one of these being a messenger."
"Ah! I hear. But there were three messengers. That was the arrangement, friend, for if one were fool enough to be captured or killed, then there were two left. You follow, sergeant? You give me news of one of these fine fellows. I have been roused in haste, and have come here expecting other news. You do not bring it. You have only one beggarly prisoner to show. The whole tale, man. Let me have it."
This time the speaker's rage got the better of him, and he thumped on the table as an excited Frenchman might be expected to do, leaning far over it till his face was within an inch of the sergeant's. Not till then did Steve catch sight of his features, and when he did so, he fell back with a scarcely suppressed groan. It was Jules Lapon, the very man who had hunted him and his friends out of house and home.
"The whole tale, monsieur? You have heard it already, unless----"
"Unless what? Speak fool. I am but just out of my bed, and have gathered nothing, save the fact that you have returned without a single messenger."
"Then the news is still bad," came the faltering answer. "One messenger was killed within four miles of this, while the hunter who accompanied him as guide escaped unharmed. They were set upon near the British fort, and they alone escaped. The other two messengers are therefore accounted for. They were surrounded and attacked by hunters, just as the two who escaped were suddenly followed and fired on at this end of the lake. We put the enemy's numbers down at a dozen, and of those we captured one. He is here, monsieur."
The sergeant having unburdened himself of a disagreeable tale, endeavoured to distract his angry commander's attention from himself and his failure to the prisoner, and succeeded. Jules Lapon scowled at him for a little while, drumming with his fingers on the table. Then he cleared a path for himself by savagely sweeping the soldiers aside, and in a moment was standing over the prisoner.
"Bring a light and let us see the fellow," he growled. "Come, it is so dark in this hole that one cannot see. Are you sure, sergeant, that he is one of the enemy? You have done so well that perhaps you have half-killed and then captured one of our own side. Mistakes are made in the darkness."