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Roger hesitated, not really knowing how to answer

"I was betrayed," he said at last "Sold"

The priest nodded syht ransom you? They will take care to keep you alive if they have so hollow as a druht fro them in darkness below There was a firepit, but no wood; the fire died out The hut seemed to have been abandoned; there was a bed fra else in the hut save a couple of tattered deerskins and a small heap of domestic debris in one corner

"Have you been here--in this hut--long?" Roger asked at last, breaking the silence He could barely see the other h the smokehole

"No They brought hed, shifting uneasily on the packed dirt floor

That seehtening--not to mention it It was no doubt as obvious to the priest as to hiuest" and "prisoner" had been crossed What had the man done?

"You are a Christian?" Alexandre broke the silence abruptly

"Yes My father was a minister"

"Ah May I ask--if they take er felt a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the cheerless surroundings

"Yes," he said aardly "Of course If you like"

The priest rose and began to walk restlessly about the confines of the hut, unable to keep still

"It ht," he said, but it was the voice of a "

"Deciding what?"

He felt rather than saw the priest’s shrug

"Whether I live"

There seeood response to that, and they fell once er sat huddled by the cold firepit, resting his la beside hi their warer had dozed off, one of the deerskins pulled over him, when there was a sudden noise at the door He sat up, blinking, to a blaze of fire

There were four Mohaarriors in the hut; one dumped a load of wood into the firepit and thrust the brand he held into the pile Ignoring Roger, the others pulled Père Ferigault to his feet and roughly stripped hi, and was knocked flat The priest gave hied him not to interfere

One of the warriors held his own brand close to Père Ferigault’s face He said so no answer, passed his brand doard, so close to the priest’s body that the white skin glowed red

Sweat stood out on Alexandre’s face as the fire hovered near his genals, but his face remained carefully blank The warrior with the brand poked it suddenly at the priest, who could not keep froain This tied hair, but the priest didn’tof this sport, two of the warriors seized the priest by the ared hier sat up slowly, the hairs on his body prickling with dread He could hear the voices of the Indians, talking a in the distance; no sound fro around the hut; Roger picked the the

He tried to pray, but found it hard to focus his mind upon devotion Over and around the words of his prayer, he could hear a s, And when they come to take me aill pray for me?

They had left him a fire; he tried to believe that ranting of comforts to a condemned prisoner was not the Mohaay, either After a time he lay down under the deerskins, curled on his side, and watched the flames until he fell asleep, worn out by terror

He was roused from uneasy sleep by the shuffle of feet andawake, rolled away fro frantically for some means of defense

The door flap lifted, and the nakd body of the priest fell into the hut The noises outside er came quickly and knelt by hinized fro of the moose