“Diable, vat dat Ah hear?” he said, half aloud, and listened again. A musquash swam between the two canoes, and saw the strange things; it dove at once with a noisy splash; the ripples flowed away, sparkling in the night light, and broke with a light curling on the pebbles of the shore. In a moment the black head reappeared beyond the stern of Le Pendu’s canoe; it swam round and looked at this unknown thing that invaded the sanctity of the wild waters of the North. Le Pendu moved his head, watching; instantly the musquash saw and dove again loudly, and was gone beneath the waters; its wake rolled evenly away and was dispersed by the weight of the lake. Jules sat in his canoe, watching the man almost at his elbow. And so the two were, when an indistinct thumping sounded from beyond.
Le Pendu swung his canoe round with a long stroke of his paddle; another canoe loomed black and drew near.
“S-s-s-st!” Le Pendu answered, and moved his craft to meet the other.
“Sa-win? [Do you hear anything?]” The rough voice was toned low.
“Ah-ha,” Le Pendu answered, “mais eet vas kil-ou-th [muskrat], Ah t’ink!”
“La-cha-ne-weet-chil-to-o? [Did you see him?]”
“Non,” Le Pendu growled softly, and the two canoes floated side by side.
Jules waited; the canoes near him watched, and lay there, mirrored vaguely on the even waters. An owl hooted from the black forests, and its hoarse call echoed away among the trees. Then Le Pendu’s canoe began to move down the shore.
“Et-chin-oo-e? [Where are you going?]” asked the man in the canoe. Le Pendu did not answer.
“Se-eith-lint-ai! [I hear you!]” Le Pendu answered savagely. “Qu-ar-a-koot cho-oe! [You are a fool. Come!]” he added.
The two canoes moved away silently and disappeared in the shadow gloom, following the timber edge. Jules breathed a sigh of relief and took his knife from his mouth.
“By diable, Ah t’ink dat taime bataille, sans doute!” he muttered, and sat still. The summer night passed on; the moon sank slowly and everything was dark; Verbaux pushed carefully out on the open water and listened, but nothing stirred. Then he moved off rapidly with scarce a ripple. Very soon the forest behind shrank to a black line, then that was gone and only the flat water stretched away on all sides. He paddled faster, heading to the south, his body swaying regularly to and fro, to and fro as he plied the ash blade.