“Here is Master Simon Radpath with his lantern still burning,” exclaimed one in a tone of relief. “Now we can lose no time but lay hands upon that evil man at once. I am certain he is somewhere near.”
“I had hoped that we would meet you sooner, Neighbour,” said Goodman Allen. “It is not your wont to sit safe by the fire when Hopewell needs your help.”
“That depends somewhat upon your trouble,” answered Master Simon gravely. “Some matters I find are better managed without my aid. What is it now? Are some fleeing Quaker women threatening the safety of your souls again? Or is it a Baptist this time, one man against the whole of the village?”
“It is far worse than that,” burst out the one who had spoken first, “worse than anything you can believe!”
“I thought there was naught worse than a Quaker,” began Master Simon bitterly, but Allen interrupted him.
“The man whom we seek is a thousand times worse,” he cried. “He is a Catholic priest, a Jesuit, and he has dared to live in the forest near us for years. He wandered southward from the Canadian settlements and came to dwell, miles from here it is true, but within the legal bounds of the Colony of Hopewell. He established a mission among the Indians, even built a woodland chapel and said his forbidden masses here, actually here in New England, upon Puritan soil! And the Indians, close-mouthed rascals, never betrayed him.”
“And how have you found him out now?” inquired Master Simon. He seemed not so astonished as he should have been upon hearing this terrible tale. Perhaps his red-skinned friends had told more to him than to the other white men.
“He tried to slip down past the town and escape from our shores by sea. Somewhere in this darkness and storm a ship is cruising up and down waiting to carry him away. It seems that he desired to go back to France but was too old and broken to undertake the overland journey to Canada.”
“Come, friend,” put in another of the little party, nudging Allen as he spoke, in a vain attempt to check the story that he was pouring out. “We are delaying here and time is precious. Let Master Simon give us a light from his lantern.”
“A moment first,” said Margeret’s father. “I must know who it was that found out all this.”