CHAPTER XVI.  A PERILOUS JOURNEY.
1815-16.
Eighteen months passed. The Chief was in Quebec with Hannah and Abbie awaiting the arrival of Rug, who had been sent by his father to the Mother Land to dispose of two cargoes of timber.
It was an unusually cold evening in June. Snow had been falling all day. The neighboring hills were covered with large feathery crystals, which, however, soon melted as the sun appeared for a moment before sinking behind the gray walls of the Castle St. Louis. Just as the evening gun was fired, news had reached the union Hotel that a vessel had been sighted near the Island of Orleans. It was ascertained that it was the Dorris, in command of Captain French, and that Rug was on board. They were soon speeding down Mountain Street in a caleche to the docks, where they secured passage in a small row-boat which was going out to the vessel. The genial captain invited them to take tea with him, and said that Rug was below supervising and arranging with the Customs Officer about the baggage of his numerous protégés, and would be on deck shortly.
Hannah burst into a paroxysm of tears when she caught sight of her long-lost lover, who had been compelled to leave only a few weeks after their marriage. He looked twenty years older, and appeared careworn, haggard and ill. As they were seated round the table he gave an account of his travels.
"When I received your letter," he said, addressing his father, "I chartered two vessels and persuaded Archie and Jonathan Campbell to go with me for a pleasure trip. We were nearly three months tossing about at the mercy of wind and wave when a hurricane swept the deck of the vessel, carrying with it the main-mast and sails. Water began to pour in at an alarming rate, and after a desperate struggle at the pumps the captain ordered all hands on deck. We felt that we had to prepare for the worst. The sailors had abandoned the pumps from exhaustion, and Jonathan and I took their places and worked until we, too, were exhausted, and as others took our places we retired to the stern, where we found Archie in a sheltered nook, seated upon a coil of rope, playing his violin, apparently oblivious of our perilous condition.
"For two days the work at the pumps was a matter of life and death, and when at last the wind subsided we drifted about helplessly until a passing vessel saw our signals of distress and towed us from the Bay of Biscay to Bristol, where the necessary repairs were made to enable us to proceed to Liverpool. We soon disposed of the timber at good profit, and Jonathan, Archie and I took the stage-coach for London, where we had the honor of being presented at Court to gay Prince Geordie, who is acting as Regent, owing to his father's mental derangement. I wish you could have seen the Carleton House," he said, turning to Hannah. "He built it at a cost of ￡250,000 sterling, and had to sell his stud of race-horses and discharge most of his servants to meet the demands of the creditors, for he had led such a wild, dissipated life that the King and Parliament refused for a long time to help him out of his difficulties.
"We visited many places of interest in London and the old farm in Kent, which we found bordered on that of General Wolfe. Then we crossed to France, and after having with great difficulty secured passports, drove to Paris.
"If we had arrived on the scene only a few months sooner we might have seen how Napoleon turned Louis XVIII. from the kingdom, or we might have seen the great battle of Waterloo; but Napoleon is now safe at St. Helena, where he was sent last October."
"The story of Napoleon Bonaparte," said Captain French, "presents probably the most remarkable example in the world of the action of great intellect and resolute will, unrestrained by conscience, and shows both the possible success which may reward, for a time, the most unscrupulous selfishness and also, fortunately, its certain ultimate failure and overthrow."
"Notwithstanding which, I have the greatest admiration for Napoleon," said Rug.
"The Captain's sentiments are mine," said the Chief. "He was a man of no conscience, no heart, and one of the most uncompromising enemies of constitutional liberty that the world has ever seen. I am amazed that a born republican like you, Rug, could see anything to admire in despotism or tyranny."
"Did you see anything of poor Josephine?" asked Abbie.
"No," he said. "The Empress Queen Dowager died two years ago, but we saw her beautiful home, 'Malmaison.'
"If one may judge from appearances, it will take many years for France to recover from the effects of the Reign of Terror. My object, however, in visiting France and England was that I might see something of their progressive developments in agriculture and commerce, so that we might adopt the newest and best methods in building up our own little colony. I have brought with me," he continued, "the latest novelties in the way of general merchandise; I have brought the newest inventions in agricultural and milling machinery; I have Herefordshire and Devon cattle, of most renowned ancestors, who have not ceased to protest against a sea voyage from the time they left Liverpool.
"Nor is this all," he said; "I have something better still on board for the new settlement, namely, twenty-five English families, who are going to take up land in the towns............