ROUSSILLON ENTERTAINS COLONEL HAMILTON
A day or two after the arrival of Hamilton the absent garrison of
buffalo hunters straggled back to Vincennes and were duly sworn to
demean themselves as lawful subjects of Great Britain. Rene de
Ronville was among the first to take the oath, and it promptly
followed that Hamilton ordered him pressed into service as a wood-
chopper and log-hauler during the erection of a new blockhouse,
large barracks and the making of some extensive repairs of the
stockade. Nothing could have been more humiliating to the proud
young Frenchman. Every day he had to report bright and early to a
burly Irish Corporal and be ordered about, as if he had been a
slave, cursed at, threatened and forced to work until his hands
were blistered and his muscles sore. The bitterest part of it all
was that he had to trudge past both Roussillon place and the
Bourcier cabin with the eyes of Alice and Adrienne upon him.
Hamilton did not forget M. Roussillon in this connection. The
giant orator soon found himself face to face with a greater trial
even than Rene's. He was calmly told by the English commander that
he could choose between death and telling who it was that stole
the flag.
"I'll have you shot, sir, to-morrow morning if you prevaricate
about this thing any longer," said Hamilton, with a right deadly
strain in his voice.
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