Читать книгу Piau - Bruce Monk Murray - Страница 15

Days passed with mere pleasantries at the work site. But ominous murmurs from the fort changed all that. Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong was on a sacred mission to have the entire colony take the unqualified oath. Mangeant’s willingness to take the oath of allegiance without qualification only encouraged Armstrong in his quest. The royal favourite, as he was called by those at the garrison, was getting under everyone’s skin. It was then that Bernard Gaudet began to rant.

“I don’t know why I did not relocate to Île Royale years ago. Denys and I had the opportunity to move to Louisbourg. We could have had a good life there. At least we would have been saved from this continuous oath business. And that demon Armstrong, he could unsettle the patience of a saint, mon Dieu!”

“Hold your tongue, brother!” Denys cautioned. “We do not need trouble. The walls of the buildings in this town have ears. You made your choice to return to Annapolis years ago. Remember, we still have the advantage of distance from the fort. Gaudet Village is our refuge. Life is wonderful there. Continue to work and keep your opinions to yourself!”

Later, I asked Gaudet about Louisbourg.

“Monsieur, you visited Île Royale?”

By this time, he had calmed himself sufficiently and was able to manage a civil answer to my question.

“We not only visited, we lived there for close to two years. Our departure to Île Royale is a fascinating story.” His enthusiasm for storytelling seemed to return. “Thinking we might move to Louisbourg, we decided to visit there and investigate the land and the people’s life. We had heard that a group of Acadians from Annapolis had travelled to Île Royale to make an official investigation for those who might wish to migrate. We were not authorized to join the group, but we obtained a passport to fish in the bay as a pretext for joining the delegation. Denys and I hid our fishing boat at St. Croix and boarded the ship and sailed to Port Toulouse, where we spent a short time. Then we continued on to Louisbourg.”

I was captivated.

“To our great good fortune, our building skills were much prized in the French colony. We practised our beam construction on the governor’s house at Louisbourg, can you believe it, and on many other homes of important Frenchmen there. The building trade kept us busy and it became quite profitable. However, the land beneath our feet was made of solid rock. One could walk on the water, there were so many fish in the sea, but the land was barren. And the fogs were so thick you could barely see the sea or the land for days on end. As for farming, such an enterprise was impossible. You could plant nothing but turnip and cabbage. We considered ourselves builders, but more importantly we saw ourselves as keepers of the land, much as our ancestors had at Port Royal and in France. A man has no soul if he is not tilling the soil or rescuing the salt marshes from the sea. This is what makes one an Acadian. His dikes and his fertile soil mean everything to him!

“So we returned home after two years abroad. Our boat was still safely hidden at St. Croix.” He began to laugh. “I am not certain anyone at the fort noticed our long absence. Perhaps those who granted us our passports thought it was a particularly long fishing expedition!”

We all began to laugh. The company was merry. I liked Bernard Gaudet — exceedingly!