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Archibald McKellar MacMechan. Old Province Tales
Old Province Tales
Table of Contents
Preface
I. The Slaying of Aeneas
I. The Slaying of Aeneas
II. The Payzant Captivity
II. The Payzant Captivity
III. A ‘Ransomer’ of. Montcalm’s
III. A ‘Ransomer’ of Montcalm’s
IV. Trials of a Sympathizer
IV. Trials of a Sympathizer
V. Tonge at Petit de Grat
V. Tonge at Petit de Grat
VI. At the Harbour Mouth
VI. At the Harbour Mouth
VII. Godfrey of the Rover
VII. Godfrey of the ‘Rover’
VIII. The Glory of the Shannon
VIII. The Glory of the ‘Shannon’
IX. The Saladin Pirates
IX. The ‘Saladin’ Pirates
X. The Sarah Stands By
X. The ‘Sarah’ Stands By
XI. The Saga of ‘Rudder’ Churchill
XI. The Saga of ‘Rudder’ Churchill
XII. The Lennie Mutiny
XII. The ‘Lennie’ Mutiny
Отрывок из книги
Archibald McKellar MacMechan
Published by Good Press, 2021
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‘As I have said, M. le Gouverneur, I come of a family in good repute in France. My father is of the noblesse, a chevalier of Blois. It is not for a man of my blood to submit tamely to such wrongs—to be imprisoned like a malefactor, to be banished from my country; and I was resolved to run all risks in order to reach France again and sue for justice. When I found that it was impossible to leave Quebec with the governor’s permission, I cast about for means to escape without it. One day, at the Château Saint Louis, a baptized savage came to pay his respects to the governor. He had been educated in a mission and spoke French well. Some priest, remembering his Virgil, had christened him Aeneas. “Multum ille et terris jactatus et alto,” as we say at Saint Omer. He was an old, experienced warrior, who had often been on raids against the English. After the audience was ended, I sought him out. He was in a camp outside the lower town, by the riverside. I sounded him cautiously to find whether he would aid me to escape. He told me of a long way to other French plantations, a long way up and down various rivers, and through forests inhabited only by wild beasts and wild men. I then sought out the other two gentlemen, who have been arrested with me—M. Poupart de Babour and M. Saint Joli de Pardeithan—and they agreed eagerly to escape if possible. Among us we made up the sum Aeneas demanded for acting as guide. There was some delay after the bargain was completed, for Aeneas had to make a canoe large enough to carry five persons. He had to take his nephew, a young brave, along to aid him; he could not manage the canoe by himself.
‘On the night of the 28th of August, there being no moon, we met Aeneas when the tide served at his camp outside the lower town. I had got pistols and a musket; M. de Pardeithan had his hanger only, while M. de Babour brought a fowling-piece. We took with us also three blankets, some pork and biscuits, and a small case-bottle of brandy. Our powder-horns and shot-pouches were filled before starting, and we carried a small reserve of powder in a water-tight canister. Before embarking, Aeneas insisted on payment of the thirty pistoles agreed upon, and I told them into his hand. He bit each piece and then put it into a belt round his middle. The ebb aiding us, we paddled down the river about ten leagues to the mouth of a river on the south bank, called the rivière du Sud, which we reached before daylight. We lay in the woods all that day, rested, ate, and slept. The following night we travelled up this stream for perhaps ten leagues more. Here we carried the canoe and our belongings three leagues through the woods over a well-worn Indian trail, and launched on a river called by Aeneas, Woolstock, but a priest we met in a village called it rivière Saint Jean.
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