said that before, but anybody could tell them; anybody who knew, for he owned the trees; and the "boss" could tell them; his name was Kennett, Georges Kennett; not the boss here, for his name was Jean Busque, he was Canadian; but the other boss, the one who told Pierre and Victor to go to the Forks of the River.
But he must go back, because the boss, the one here, would be angry and make him lose some of his money. He had heard them say something about Victor being killed, and he wanted to ask them and tell them it couldn't be Victor, because he had gone to the big lake, as Pierre had said. What would Victor's wife do if he was dead? The good God—le bon Dieu—and the good Saint Anne—la bonne sainte Anne—wouldn't let him be dead, when there was Victor's wife and three little ones and another coming in the summer, as Victor had told him. They must know that Victor couldn't be dead, and if they saw him, they were to tell him that he—Étienne Vignon—had said this and would meet him at the big Falls to go back to la Beauce before the feast of Saint John, as Victor had promised
