It was as if St. Pierre had brought with him into the
cabin something more than the splendid strength of his body, a
thing that reached out in the interval of silence between them,
warning Carrigan that all the law in the world would not swerve
the chief of the Boulains from what was already in his mind. For a
moment the thought passed from David that fate had placed him up
against the hazard of enmity with St. Pierre. His vision centered
in the man alone. And as he, too, rose to his feet, an unconscious
smile came to his lips as he recalled the boastings of Bateese.
"I ask you," said he, "if you would really stake your life in a
matter such as that? Of course, if your words were merely
accidental, and meant nothing--"
"If I had a dozen lives, I would stake them, one on top of the
other, as I have said," interrupted St. Pierre. Suddenly his laugh
boomed out and his voice became louder. "M'sieu Carrigan, I have
come to offer you just that test! Oui, I could kill you now. I
could put you at the bottom of the river, as Bateese thinks is
right. Mon Dieu, how completely I could make you disappear! And
then my Jeanne would be safe. She would not go behind prison bars.
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