22 OVER ON THE ISLAND shops here, thank goodness, or my woman would be here most of the time." "Just let me out at the corner." "I remember hearing once that there are the remains of an old French aboiteau in Tryon . You should look it up, since you are so interested in historical relics." An old aboiteau—whatever that was! It did sound interesting. Certainly I would look it up. So I went into a house to get directions. "Three-quarters of a mile down the road, turn into a field on the right-hand side and go down to the water." I did. True—there were the remains of an old dike which had been used to keep the water back from the marsh. It did seem extraordinarily well preserved for two hundred years of wear and tear. I went back to the village meditating, and sought out the people who had given me the directions. "When was it built?" "About forty years ago." "But I meant the old French aboiteau." "Never heard of it." I still don't know where the old French aboiteau is, but some one has told me since that it really is in Tryon . There was quite a French settlement here in the old days. They called it Riviere des Blonds. There, French are still buried in places under the United Church cemetery, and even under the road, and down to the very edge of the water. I went up the road reverently, wondering how many passers-by realize that they are walking on hallowed ground. Underneath that road are pioneers.