His heart was full of her. She had surprised his
nature and filled it, as with a wonderful, haunting song. His
youth, his imagination, all that was fresh and spontaneously
gentle and natural in him, was flooded with the magnetic splendor
of her beauty. And yet, in his pride (and it was not a false
pride, but rather a noble regard for his birthright) he vaguely
realized how far she was from him, how impossible.
CHAPTER VIII
THE DILEMMA OF CAPTAIN HELM
Oncle Jazon, feeling like a fish returned to the water after a
long and torturing captivity in the open air, plunged into the
forest with anticipations of lively adventure and made his way
toward the Wea plains. It was his purpose to get a boat at the
village of Ouiatenon and pull thence up the Wabash until he could
find out what the English were doing. He chose for his companions
on this dangerous expedition two expert coureurs de bois,
Dutremble and Jacques Bailoup. Fifty miles up the river they fell
in with some friendly Indians, well known to them all, who were
returning from the portage.
The savages informed them that there were no signs of an English
advance in that quarter. Some of them had been as far as the St.
Joseph river and to within a short distance of Detroit without
seeing a white man or hearing of any suspicious movements on the
part of Hamilton.
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