ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 169 



It was getting past a joke. " Halt ! " shouted we ; 

 "stop firing till you see what you are firing at." 

 There was a dead silence for a moment, then a burst 

 of savage laughter. " Fire ! fire ! " cried two or three 

 voices. 



" If you fire," cried I, " look out for yourselves, 

 for we shall do the same. Have a care what you are 

 about." 



" Morbleu ! Sacre ! " roared half-a-score of voices. 

 " Who is that who dares to give us orders ? Fire on 

 the dogs ! " 



" If you do, Ave return it." 



"Sacre/" screamed the savages. "They are gen- 

 tlemen from the towns. Their speech betrays them. 

 Shoot them the dogs, the spies ! What do they 

 want in the prairie ] " 



" Your blood be on your own heads," cried I. 

 And, with the feelings of desperate men, we levelled 

 our guns in the direction in which we had seen the 

 flashes of the last volley. At that moment " Halt ! 

 What is here 1 ?" shouted a stentorian voice close 

 to us. 



"Stop firing, or you are dead men," cried five or 

 six other voices. 



" Sacre ! ce sont des Americains" muttered the 

 Acadians. 



" Monsieur Carleton ! " cried a voice. 



" Here ! " replied my friend. A boat shot out of 

 the smoke, between us and our antagonists. Carle- 



