The captain having given notice that everybody must leave the ship next
day, there was early bustling in finishing packing and arranging for the
next stage in our journey, which was to be by a Durham boat to Prescott.
Carts were on hand to haul our luggage to the canal, where lay the boat
that had been hired for our party. A carter hoisted a chest on his
little vehicle and hurriedly drove off. Instead of taking the direction
of the other carts, he went straight up the dump that led into the town.
I shouted to him to stop. He laid his whip on the horse and drove
faster. It flashed on me he was a thief, and I ran after him. I could
never have caught up to him had it not been market day and the street
was crowded with people and carts. I jumped up beside him and pulled at
his collar to make him stop. He tried to push me on to the road, but I
clung to him, when he lashed me with the whip. I shouted for help, but
all being French they did not know what I said, but they saw something
was wrong and with many exclamations the crowd stood staring at us. Just
then a little, stout man, in a black gown, elbowed his way through the
crowd, and asked me in English what was the matter. I told him the
carter had stolen the chest. He spoke to the carter in French. 'The man
denies it,' said the priest, for such I now guessed he was. I hurriedly
narrated what had happened, and for proof pointed to the name painted on
the chest. Speaking with severity to the carter, the fellow turned his
horse towards the river and the priest told me he would take the chest
back to where he got it. 'But he may not do so,' I exclaimed. The priest
gave me a sharp look, as if surprised that I should be ignorant of his
power. 'He dare not disobey me.' I thanked the priest from the bottom of
my heart, and in a few minutes the carter had dumped the chest on the
spot where he had taken it and drove away. On telling the mate what had
happened, he said it was common for emigrants, both at Quebec and
Montreal, to be robbed by fellows who regarded them as fair game.