CHAPTER XXVII
THE GOVERNMENT TAKES OFF ITS COAT.
The winter had passed. The first expedition had failed. The reward had
failed, for the people, sincerely regretting the tragedy, and anxious
that Donald should give himself up, scorned to betray the man who had
trusted in their honor.
Donald had spent the winter in comparative security. Anxiety had made
him thin, but he was as firmly fixed as ever in his determination to
hold out. He knew that as long as his friends remained faithful to him
he could never be taken. His mind did not seem to travel beyond that.
"He would never be taken." He was urged in vain to escape to the States.
He was urged in vain to give himself up. To the promise that his friends
would see that he received a fair trial, he would answer bitterly:
"Promises are easy now because they have not to be kept. How would it be
when, behind iron bars, and hope cut off, they _could_ not be kept?"
Mr. Mercier felt that if the Government was not to suffer serious loss
of _prestige_, it must adopt heroic measures.
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