It was not so much the thought of the woman as of the men.

There came to him with sudden force how these two comrades had been ever ready to sacrifice themselves for him, and he ready to accept the sacrifice.

He was not ashamed of the mist, but he wondered that the thing had come to him all at once.

He grasped the hands of both, shook them heartily, then dashed his fingers across his eyes, and with the instinct of every imperfect man,--that touch of the aboriginal in all of us, who must have a sign for an emotion, he went to a cabinet and out came a bottle of wine.
An hour after, Perrot left him at the ship's side.
They were both cheerful.

"Two years, Perrot; two years!" he said.
"Ah, mon grand capitaine!" Iberville turned away, then came back again.