To Pierre and the sergeant it was obvious that France must win
back Acadie, and that soon; and they paid little heed to Lecorbeau's
sagacious comparisons between the French and English methods of
conducting the government. Lecorbeau, naturally did not feel like
arguing his points with much determination; but across the well-scrubbed
deal table he uttered several predictions which Pierre recalled when
he saw them brought to pass.
"Here's about how it stands," remarked the sergeant one night, shaking
the ashes of his pipe into the hollow of his hand, "there's hundreds
upon hundreds now of your Acadians shifting round loose, waiting for a
chance to get back to their old farms. They don't dare go back while the
English hold possession, for fear of His Reverence yonder"--signifying,
of course, Le Loutre--"so they're all ready to fight just as soon as
France gives the word. They don't care much for France, maybe--not
much more than for the English--but they do just hanker after their
old farms. When the government thinks it the right time, and sends us
some troops from Quebec and Louisburg, all the Acadians out of Acadie
will walk in to take possession, and the Acadians in Acadie will bid
good day to King George and help us kick the English out of Halifax.
It's bound to come, sure as fate; and pretty soon, I'm thinking."
"I believe you're right!" assented Pierre, enthusiastically.
"What would you think, now," said Lecorbeau, suggestively, "if the
English should take it into their slow heads not to wait for all this
to happen? What would you do up there in the fort if some ships were
to sail up to-morrow and land a little English army under Beausejour?
You've got a priest and a greedy old woman (begging Monsieur Vergor's
pardon) to lead you.
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