"
"You were a free man, not a slave."
"The human heart has pride. At first, as when I left the governor at
Lachine, I said, 'I will never speak, I will never ask nor bend the knee.
He has the power to oppress; I can obey without whining, as fine a man as
he.'"
"Did you not hate?"
"At first, as only a banished man can hate. I knew that if all had gone
well I should be a man high up in the Company, and here I was, living
like a dog in the porch of the world, sometimes without other food for
months than frozen fish; and for two years I was in a place where we had
no fire,--lived in a snow-house, with only blubber to eat. And so year
after year, no word!"
"The mail came once every year from the world?" "Yes, once a year the
door of the outer life was opened. A ship came into the bay, and by that
ship I sent out my reports. But no word came from the governor, and no
request went from me. Once the captain of that ship took me by the
shoulders, and said, 'Fawdor, man, this will drive you mad.
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