Chapter 11
July 20th, 1777, Quebec city, 31 days later.
Daniel, Rain Cloud and Thomas McTavish arrived in Quebec on a warm summer day. Willie had stayed in Trois-Rivières where he would meet with Canadians who sympathized with the American cause.
Daniel didn't know where Mingo was. They had seen his moccasin tracks once mixed with other tracks, near a raided settlement. Though the hints he left behind were scarce and well hidden, they knew he had made contact with the renegades. They lost him completely as they went toward the Hudson. It was necessary to avoid Philadelphia at all costs. It looked as if the marauders might have gone toward Liberty City or perhaps that all these hints were meant to fool the Colonial Army. They reached Lake Champlain, avoiding militia and military, after a hard three days canoeing and living off dry supplies.
They still had to go north. This was the second part of the mission: finding out what the British were planning..
Rain Cloud wanted to follow Mingo's trail. They were both worried, and Daniel had almost agreed to let him go.
There were a hospital and school under the supervision of the Grey Nuns order near the St-Charles River; it accepted Indians as lodgers. They went there as soon as they arrived in the French city.
July 20th, 1777, Quebec City, 31 days later
They canoed from the Hudson, to Lake Champlain, to the Richelieu River. They made portage when the rapids came up, staying as far away from Fort-Chambly and its British regiment as possible. They walked away from the river then, following a fairly wide trail. They avoided all the British by remaining on this trail. It led them into the Kanewaga village after a two days trek. The Huron were friendly, old allies of the French and therefore still bitter enemies of the British. Thomas and Willie conversed freely with the proud Indians. They had been welcomed with hot, fresh food. More supplies were waiting for them within the Huron camp. The Continental Army had friends everywhere, it seemed.
They canoed and portaged the St-Lawrence River all the way to Quebec City. It was a hard task. Daniel couldn't help but wonder how it would be in the winter he had heard of, in this land.
The nuns were welcoming but overbearing as well. Some of the settler's children and many more Indian children attended their daily classes. The idea that Rain Cloud was not a good Christian Indian and didn't know his letters challenged them. They fretted over him constantly.
These nuns would prove to be quite an experience in the life of the Americans.
July 22, 1777, afternoon.
Rain Cloud knew enough French that he could translate for Jeremiah, and act as his manservant. While Cherokee didn't often venture that far north, Quebec City wasn't fazed with a member of a Southern tribe. Since the end of the Seven Years War, the city was alive with the voices of its inhabitants, mostly Canadians, who had sworn oaths to the British in exchange for the right to remain on their home soil. There were fur traders, voyagers, coureurs des bois, children, Indians and French-Canadians, attending schools run by Grey Order nuns, wives taking care of daily chores, fishermen, blacksmiths, officers and their men wearing red coats. A city of almost 40,000 inhabitants, scarred from many wars, alive with people, it had colors and flavors. Daniel suspected that Rain Cloud felt as Mingo usually did about cities - too big, too dirty. Daniel's thoughts were of Mingo. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he safely away from the British? How would they contact one another? How would they remove him from the clutches of the renegades?
There was nothing he could do, Daniel decided, shrugging. He would have to trust Mingo to do what he had to do. And so Daniel moved forward in order to fulfill his own mission.