The Project Gutenberg eBook ofYule-Tide Yarns

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofYule-Tide YarnsThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Yule-Tide YarnsEditor: G. A. HentyRelease date: June 18, 2015 [eBook #49229]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Chris Whitehead, Charlene Taylor and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YULE-TIDE YARNS ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Yule-Tide YarnsEditor: G. A. HentyRelease date: June 18, 2015 [eBook #49229]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Chris Whitehead, Charlene Taylor and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

Title: Yule-Tide Yarns

Editor: G. A. Henty

Release date: June 18, 2015 [eBook #49229]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Chris Whitehead, Charlene Taylor and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YULE-TIDE YARNS ***

The cover image was restored by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

"The quartermaster fired his two pistols, and the man fell." Page 181.

"The quartermaster fired his two pistols, and the man fell."

Page 181.

Title Page for Yule-Tide Yarns

TheAlert, a handsome schooner of some 200 tons burden, was in April 1793 cruising along the southern shore of France. She had been captured a fortnight before by his Majesty's frigateTartar, a week after the declaration of war between France and England. As she was a very fast vessel, the captain of theTartarhad placed thirty men on board her, under the command of his senior midshipman, Vignerolles, in order that he might gather news of the movements of any hostile craft from Toulon or Marseilles, and pick up any French merchantmen returning from abroad and ignorant that war had begun. The young commander was standing on the quarter-deck with his glass fixed upon a large château standing some four miles back from the sea on a lofty eminence.

"The baron must be mad," he said, as he lowered the glass, "to remain there with his wife and two daughters, when he might long ago have managed to escape with them across the frontier into Italy. If he is so pig-headed as to determine to stop there himself, and have his head chopped off by the guillotine, he might at least have sentthemto a place of safety. I have been brought up to admire the French nobles, but upon my word, if they are all like him they well deserve the fate that is falling upon them. Of course those who emigratehave their estates forfeited, but it is a good deal better to lose your estate than your estate and head also."

Vignerolles belonged to an old Huguenot family which had emigrated to England upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes. They had sold their property, and possessed considerable means when they arrived in England. Chiefly for the sake of assisting the many exiles of their religion, they had joined two or three others in erecting a silk manufactory at Spitalfields. As time went on, the heirs of those who had joined them in the enterprise had gone out of it, and the de Vignerolles of the time had become sole proprietor of the silk factory. It had gone down from father to son in unbroken succession. The younger sons had gone out into the world and made their ways in other directions, but it had become a tradition that the eldest son should take the business, which was now a very flourishing one. They had dropped the French prefix, and now simply called themselves Vignerolles. Their branch of the family had been the younger one. The Barons de Vignerolles had remained Catholics, and had possessed their wide estates in peace, being among the largest landowners in Provence. The connection between the two branches had been always maintained, and from time to time members of the English branch went out for a visit to the ancestral château, where they were always hospitably entertained; the fact that they had gone into trade, which would have been considered a terrible disgrace in France, being condoned on the ground that being among a nation of traders it was only natural they should do as their neighbours did.

Once or twice only had members of the senior branch paid a visit to London, and then not from any desire for travel, but simply because they were members of their embassy in London. These had brought back news that the Vignerolles held a high place in the Huguenot colony, that they lived in a fine old house at Hampstead, andwere generally liked and respected among the great families who lived near them.

TheTartarhad for the last three years been on the Mediterranean station. Although the English people regarded with the utmost horror the events that were taking place in France, there was no open breach between the two nations, and it was only when the king was brought to trial, and executed on 21st January 1793, that the popular feeling reached a height that rendered war inevitable; the French ambassador was ordered to leave England, and on 1st February the National Convention declared war.

During the three previous years Vignerolles had twice been granted a fortnight's leave of absence to visit the château of his distant kinsman, and he had thoroughly enjoyed his stay there. The midshipman was as strange to the baron and his family as they were to him. The baron was a typical specimen of French noble: he was kindly by nature, and an easy lord to his tenants; but he exercised all the seigneurial rights of his ancestors, regarded the lower class with supreme contempt, and was an uncompromising opponent of the changes that were being instituted by the States-general.

"They are ruining France!" he exclaimed. "The idea of a parliament of advocates and doctors, men of low birth, giving laws to France, and treating the chambers of the lords and clergy as if they were of no account, is monstrous. Were I the king I would send down a couple of regiments, close the chamber, and hang a score of their leaders."

Still greater did his indignation become when he heard of the capture of the Bastile, and that the king had been brought by the mob from Versailles to Paris. He himself at once posted off to the capital, and was one of the party of nobles who had implored the king to call upon the army to restore order, or at leastto bring in two or three regiments to form a royal guard. He was one of those who had fought to the last against the mob when they stormed the Tuileries, and had been left for dead. The two valets he had taken with him had at night carried off his body, which they were permitted to do by the mob, under the belief that he was dead. He had, however, recovered, and finding that the king had refused to countenance any attempt to rescue him by force, had returned to his château. He was no longer violent, but remained in a state of the most profound depression, seldom speaking, and wandering about the house murmuring, "Poor France, poor France!"

"The two valets had at night carried off his body."

In vain his friends represented to him that the nobleswere everywhere being seized, and that for the sake of his wife and girls he ought to cross the frontier into Italy while there was yet time. He only replied, "It shall never be said that a de Vignerolles fled before this canaille. They can murder us, but they cannot make cowards of us." The baroness was a bright and kindly woman, and her daughters charming girls, though with some little of their father's pride of ancestry. The formal service of the house, the strict etiquette, and what the midshipman considered ridiculous pomposity, surprised and amused him as much as did his utter disregard of ceremony, his lively ways, merry and unrestrained laughter, amuse his far-away cousins. The baron, who might have been offended by it, paid no attention to what was going on around him, and his presence acted rather as a damper upon his visitor's high spirits; but when alone with the girls and their mother, he was free to say and do what he liked, and they felt their life, which was now an anxious one, brightened by his visits.

When Peter Vignerolles was appointed to the command of the newly captured schooner, the captain of theTartarsaid to him: "As senior midshipman I should in any case have given you the command of theAlert, but I know that you will be specially pleased to be in command of her now. There can be no question that the position of your friends at the château is a most precarious one, and the baron himself must be mad to compel his family to run such a frightful risk. If he likes to throw away his own life, well and good; but he has no right to expose his family to such frightful dangers; and he has not the excuse of ignorance, for scores of noble ladies have been murdered by this bloodthirsty mob. It may be that at the last moment there will be a chance for them to escape, and if you can in any way assist them to do so without running too much risk, I think that you will be justified in acting.

"I do not authorise you to take any action, because I know nothing of the circumstances; but our general instructions always have been to give shelter to French royalists, and to carry them to the nearest port where they can be landed with safety to themselves, and I certainly should not myself hesitate to send a boat ashore to take them off. You know the first time that you paid them a visit after we came out here you brought the baroness and her two daughters to see the frigate, and I feel therefore personally interested in them, and shall be glad to hear that they have made their escape; so that if you get a message saying that they will come down to the shore you will be more than justified in sending a boat for them, and even in running a certain amount of risk. However, I must leave the matter to your discretion."

"Thank you, sir; but I am afraid that the baron will neither take any step for his own safety, nor permit them to leave the château without him; still I shall do anything that I possibly can to look after them."

"I shall send young Harding with you, and the boatswain's mate. If you capture any prizes you had best turn the crews adrift in their own boats with a couple of oars; we don't want to cumber ourselves with prisoners. You had better keep the prizes with you until we come across you again; in that case five men would be enough to man one of them, while if you were to send them down to Gibraltar you would want a petty officer and eight or ten men. Don't cumber yourself with worthless prizes, burn or sink any small craft; but, of course, if you get hold of a ship returning full of goods from one of their colonies, she would be worth convoying there at once."

And so Peter Vignerolles had sailed away in theAlert, the crew being as pleased as he was at the prospect of an expedition on their own account away from the frigate.

"It is disgusting—isn't it, Peter?" Harding, who wastwo years junior to Vignerolles, said, after he too had taken a look at the château through the glass—"to think that your friends are there, and that the 'reds' from Marseilles may go up there any day and drag them off to prison."

"The brutes!" Peter said savagely. "Look here, Harding; I mean to land to-night and go up and see the ladies. I shall not see the baron. I regard him as half-cracked, and he would be just as likely as not to take it into his head that now the two countries are at war, it would be his duty to hand me over to the authorities. Besides, it is just as well to keep him in the dark about it altogether. I want to let them know that I am in command of this schooner. Of course I am supposed to cruise generally along the French coast; but I intend to keep pretty close here, of course running out to sea and picking up any craft that are making for Marseilles or Cette. TheTartarwill be watching Toulon, and although my orders are for general cruising, I know by what the captain said that he will not be put out if I keep a good deal in this neighbourhood, where, indeed, I have a better chance of picking up prizes than I should have if I went farther west. Anyhow, I want to let them know that we are here, and shall be ready to take them off if necessary. If they want to speak to us, I shall tell the girls to hang out a red curtain from their window; if they want to come off, they are to hang out a white one. We can make them out plainly enough with a glass from here. Of course I cannot guarantee that we shall be here when we are most needed, for no doubt the gunboats from Cette and Marseilles will both be patrolling the coast; besides, we may be a hundred miles away in pursuit of a prize. However, it will be a satisfaction for me to know that I have done all that is possible, and it may be some comfort to them to know that if they can find their way down to the shore, and signal from there when they see us, they will have a chance of escape."

"Will you go in disguise?"

"Yes. We took two or three suits of clothes from that fishing-boat that we overhauled yesterday. I did so on purpose. You see, if one was going on such a business among what you might call civilised people, I should go in uniform, for then if I were caught I should not be shot as a spy; but among these ruffians the uniform would be no protection for me, and I shall therefore go in one of the fishermen's suits. You see I speak French as well as English, and shall run very small risk. Of course I shall take a brace of pistols and a good heavy stick, and if any one interferes with me they must take the consequences."

After proceeding a mile farther along the coast the schooner's head was turned seaward, and she ran twenty miles off the coast. Just as Vignerolles was about to give the order to bring her head round again, the look-out from the cross-trees shouted down, "A sail on the weather-bow."

"What does she look like?" Peter asked.

"I can't make her out yet, sir, her upper sails are only just up, but I should say that she was a large craft."

Peter gave the order to lower the top-sails. "We had better keep out of her sight as long as we can, Harding; she may be a French frigate or man-of-war making for Toulon, and as she has the wind pretty nearly free, it would be as well to give her a wide berth. If she is a merchantman, we will sail out to meet her. It is not likely that she has got news yet of war being declared, and she won't suspect any harm until too late."

It was some time before the man at the mast-head again hailed them.

"She is a three-masted ship, sir, but I don't fancy from the cut of her sails that she is a ship of war."

"I will come up and have a look at her myself," Peter said, and slinging his glass over his shoulder he made his way aloft.

"Yes, she is certainly a trader," he said, after a long look at her. "Let her go two points more off the wind. Mr. Harding, we shall cross her course a little ahead of her, and that will put Cette nearly dead astern of us, and she will suppose that we have only just come out and are making for Corsica."

The top-sails were hoisted again, and the schooner ran along fast, for the breeze just suited her, being sufficiently strong to carry all sail with comfort. They rose the other ship fast. There was no longer any doubt whatever as to her being a trader. They could presently make out that she carried twelve guns, six on each side. Peter went to the man at the wheel—

"Keep her up a point," he said; "we will pass a couple of cable lengths under his stern."

In the meantime the guns had been loaded, and all the crew save ten ordered to sit down under the shelter of the bulwarks, so that those watching her should not see that she carried more hands than the usual company of a craft of her size. The manner in which the vessel kept on her course without making any alteration in her sail spread, showed that there was no suspicion whatever in the minds of her officers that she was an enemy. TheAlertwas flying the French flag.

"Get the ensign ready for hoisting," Peter said, when within a quarter of a mile of the Frenchman. The course had been accurately laid, and she crossed the trader's stern at a distance of some ten lengths; then the helm was put up, the sheets eased off, and in half a minute she was in the Frenchman's wake, laying her course north. "Bring her up alongside of her to windward," Peter ordered, at the same moment the tricolour was lowered and the white ensign run up. The instant this was done loud shouts were raised on board the Frenchman; there was a tramp of many feet, and it was evident that the wildest confusion reigned. TheAlertwent so fast throughthe water that in three or four minutes she was alongside. Peter sprang on to the rail and shouted—

"Lower your flag or I will sink you."

"Lower your flag or I will sink you." The order was not obeyed. "Take her alongside," he said to the helmsman; and then to the crew, "Now, men, prepare for boarding her." The sight of the thirty sailors armedto the teeth completed the alarm on board the Frenchman, and their flag came fluttering down just as the sailors sprang on the deck. Numerically the French crew were considerably stronger than the British, but they were taken hopelessly by surprise. A few had caught up arms, and the tarpaulins had been hastily dragged from the guns, but the ammunition had not yet been brought on deck.

"What is the meaning of this, sir?" the French captain exclaimed, as Peter leapt down on to the deck.

"It means, sir, that there is a state of war between England and France, and that you are my lawful prize." The captain uttered a string of French oaths and dashed his cap down on the deck in comic despair. "It is the fortune of war, monsieur," Peter said quietly. "I have no doubt that if you had been prepared you would have offered a gallant resistance, but you see it has been a complete surprise, and of course a very unpleasant one. What ship is this?"

"TheMartinique, 800 tons burden, laden with coffee and other colonial produce."

"Thank you, captain. She is a prize worth taking; she looks a new vessel."

"It is her first voyage," the captain said.

"How many hands do you carry?"

"Forty-five all told, and, as you see, twelve guns. Ah, monsieur, if we had had time to load and arm ourselves you would have had a different reception."

"No doubt, no doubt; but you see we sail three feet to your two, which more than counterbalances the difference in strength, and it would have been a pity indeed to have knocked such a fine ship about and to have killed a good many of your men when it would have come to the same thing at last. Now, I should like to have a look at your papers."

The prize was indeed a valuable one, for although shehad filled up at the French islands, she had previously traded along the South American coast, and was laden to her utmost capacity. The crew had been ordered into the forecastle, and a heavy cable had been coiled against the door.

"We will run in, Harding, to within ten or fifteen miles of the land, then we will lay her to. It will be dark by that time. I will leave you with twelve men in charge of her. You will, of course, bring up ammunition and load the guns. I shall run in and anchor as close as I can to the land—of course showing no lights—and then make my way up to the château. It will take me an hour to go there and an hour to return. I may have some little difficulty in getting speech with them, but certainly in two hours I shall be on my way back. With this wind I ought to get ashore by half-past eight, and by half-past twelve shall be on board again. Show no lights till two o'clock, and then hoist one above another. I shall know by looking at the list the captain gave me, where theTartaris likely to be to-morrow, and shall make straight for her, and cruise about until she comes up. The ship and her contents are worth, I should say, from twenty to twenty-five thousand pounds. I shall hand her over to theTartar, and let them put a prize crew in her. It would never do to weaken ourselves by sending ten or twelve men in her to Gib. No doubt theTartarwill convoy her till she is off the coast of Spain."

Consulting the list that his captain had given him, he found that theTartarwas to put in for fresh provisions at Genoa, and intended to be back on the following day and take up her station outside the southernmost of the Isles of Hyères.

"It could not be better," he said to Harding. "I doubt with this wind whether she will be there, but we shall only have to keep on east till we meet her."

"Then you won't land the prisoners to-night?"

"It is I, Peter Vignerolles."

"No; they would make their way to Marseilles, and it would soon be known that this schooner is English, of which at present they must be in doubt, as we have always kept the French flag flying. If we don't fall in with theTartarto-morrow we will land them east of Toulon; the authorities there are not so likely to worry themselves over a merchantman being captured as they are at Marseilles."

This arrangement was carried out, and it was just half-past eight when theAlertdropped anchor half a mile off the shore, and repeating his order that no lights should be shown, Peter was rowed ashore by eight well-armed sailors.

"Lie off a couple of hundred yards till you hear my call. You had better drop your grapnel, or you will drift along and have to keep on rowing, and I might have a difficulty in finding you."

When within thirty yards of the shore they stopped and listened for a minute or two. No sound was heard, and rowing ashore, Peter leapt out. There was no moon, but the stars were bright, and he had no difficulty in keeping his course towards the château. He was anxious to be back on board again, and on striking a road broke into a run, and in three-quarters of an hour stood outside the house. There were lights in the window of the room in which the girls slept, and taking a handful of small stones he threw them up against the casement. He saw a figure appear and then go away again. He threw up a second shower of pebbles, and two figures now came to the window and opened it.

"It is I, Peter Vignerolles," he said; "I want urgently to speak to you."

There were two exclamations of surprise; then the eldest of the girls leaned out. "We will come down in ten minutes. Go to the window of the dining-room. We cannot come until we are sure that every one has retired to bed."

"All right," he said; "only don't be longer than you can help; I have a boat waiting to take me off again."

In a few minutes the window, which extended down to the ground, opened, and the two girls stepped out.

"Isn't it very dangerous your landing, Peter," the younger one said, "now that your people are at war with us?"

"That is to say, at war with your enemies, Julie. No, I don't think that there is any danger in it. Did you notice a schooner coming along the coast at ten o'clock this morning?"

"Yes," the girls answered together, "a French schooner."

"Well, she was French, but just at present she is British, and is tender to theTartar, and I am in command of her. Now what I have come ashore for is to arrange for you to make signals to us if you want either to see me or to come on board with your mother. I know that it is hopeless to expect your father to accompany you."

"There is no hope of that," she said. "Since the king's murder he has been worse than ever. I do think that he is going out of his mind. Nothing would induce him to fly. He has armed all the servants, and declares that he will defend the château till the last."

"It is most unfortunate, Julie, for only one end can come of it; the place is not defensible for a moment. I suppose that there is no hope of persuading your mother and you to come at once."

"Not in the least, and we would not ask her," the elder girl replied. "We are de Vignerolles too, and if our father thinks it right to remain here, we shall certainly do so. We can die as hundreds of other noble ladies have done."

"Well, as long as your father is here I suppose you cannot leave, but if the 'reds' come there is no reason why you and your mother should not fly; throwing awayyour lives will benefit neither France nor your house. When this château is once taken, and your father a prisoner, there would be no common-sense in your hesitating about making your escape if there were an opportunity of doing so."

"No; then we would escape if we could; but once in the hands of the 'reds,' there will be little chance of that."

"Well, that would be my business. At any rate I want you to arrange signals. We can see the window of your room from the sea. I shall be cruising backwards and forwards; sometimes I may be away for two or three days, because I have to attend to my duty. At any rate I want you to hang out a red curtain when you see us come along, if you wish to see me, and to hang out a white curtain as a signal that these scoundrels are approaching the château or have taken it. If I see the white curtain I shall be pretty sure that you will already be prisoners in their hands. Then of course I shall be guided by circumstances. But my advice and my earnest prayer is, that if the 'reds' are coming, and your father still persists in his mad idea of defending the house, you and your mother should have disguises ready, and, after having hung out the signal, slip out and conceal yourselves until they have gone. Another thing: I should advise your mother at once to pack up all the family jewels, and the title-deeds, and other valuables, and that you should bury them in the shrubbery without loss of time; then we could dig them up later, and they will come in useful to you indeed should you escape to England. It would be a good thing for you to fix upon the spot where you will bury them now, so that I may be able to come for them without its being necessary for one of you to act as a guide to the place."

"I think that is a very good plan," Melanie said. "Even if we are carried away and murdered, it would be a satisfaction to us to know that our jewels—and youknow that they are very valuable—have not fallen into the hands of these wretches, but that they will still be the property of one of our family."

"You didn't think, Melanie," Peter said, in a tone of pain, "that I ever dreamt of such a thing when I made the suggestion."

"Of course not," the girl said indignantly. "How could you fancy such a monstrous thing! Of course you were only thinking of us; but at the same time what I say is true, that we should all be very glad to know that these canaille have not got the de Vignerolles jewels. Now let us choose a place."

They went out into the shrubbery at the side of the house, and fixed upon a spot within forty or fifty paces of the trunk of a large tree.

"We will bury the things here."

"Do it at night, Melanie."

"Certainly; we will come down, as we have done now, when the house is all asleep. We will get a shovel during the day, and hide it in readiness. We won't forget the signals. Of course we shall not want to see you unless, which is not likely, our father consents to leave the country with us."

"I fear that is hopeless indeed, Melanie; still there is a possibility; and if I see the signal you may be sure that I shall be up here the same evening."

They had by this time returned to the window. "I must be off now," he said; "we have captured a valuable prize to-day, and I shall be anxious about her safety until we are alongside of her again. Keep a sharp look-out for us. When I do come I shall try to pass along the coast here between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning, so that you will know when to look out for me. God bless you both. I wish that I could get a month's leave and stay here; then I could make pretty sure of saving you and your mother."

"Good-bye, Peter. If we never see you again we shall remember to the last how kind you were and how you did your best to save us."

He kissed them both for the first time, and as he knew, perhaps for the last. He then, as they closed the window, turned and ran hastily away, with his cheeks wet with tears. He had been gone little over two hours when he again reached the shore and hailed the boat. Two men were on watch, and the rest, who were stretched in the bottom, at once scrambled up. The grapnel was speedily hauled in and the boat rowed to shore. Peter jumped in.

"Back all," he said; "now pull bow and three, then lay out, for I want to be on board as soon as I can."

"We were not expecting you back so soon, sir," the man who was rowing the stroke oar said apologetically, "or else we should all have been on the look-out."

"No; I have been fortunate, and have not been more than half the time I expected to be."

As soon as he was on board, the anchor was run up to the bow, the sails hoisted, and theAlertwas under way again. Peter went to the wheel.

"Be very careful with your steering," he said; "the course is south-east by south, a half south. They will not have shown her lights by the time we get there, so we must mind that we don't miss her."

When he judged that they were within a couple of miles of the barque, the same signal was hoisted that the latter was to have shown, and a minute later two lights appeared straight ahead of them, and they presently heard the clank of the windlass.

"Nothing happened, Mr. Harding?"

"No, sir, all has been quiet. The prisoners have tried the door once or twice, and I had to threaten to fire through it; since then they have been quiet. We made you out just before you showed your lights, and it was a relief when you did so; for although you were comingfrom the right direction it might have been an enemy, and I had just told the men to stand to quarters."

"Quite right; and now is your anchor up?"

"Yes, it is at the cat-head, sir."

"Well, get sail on her as quickly as you can, and then steer east by south. I will keep near you. You may as well show a light at your stern."

Ten minutes later the vessels were both on the course given, and the schooner under reduced sail following the prize. By twelve o'clock the next day they were off Toulon, with the Isles of Hyères ahead of them. When off the most southern of these they lay to. The wind was now very light, and they had during the last half-hour made but little way through the water.

"They are signalling on that island," Harding said.

"Yes, I see they are, Harding. If I had known that the wind was going to drop so light I would have kept farther off. The worst of it is, that what tide there is, has just turned against us, and the wind is dropping every minute. In half-an-hour it will be a stark calm, and I should not be surprised if they send gunboats out from Toulon when they hear that a schooner and a barque, the latter probably a prize, are lying here becalmed. If so, we shall have to fight for it. Johnson, take my glass, and go up to the mast-head and see if you can make out theTartar."

"I can see the top-sails of a square-rigged craft some twenty miles away, sir; I have no doubt that it is theTartar."

"Is there any sign of wind?"

"No, sir, there does not seem to be a cat's-paw on the water anywheres."

"This is an awkward place to be becalmed, Harding," Peter said to the midshipman, who had just rowed on board from the barque. "If it were not for the prize we might get all the men in the boats and tow the schooner.We could get two and a half knots out of her, I should say, with the three boats ahead, but we can't tow her and the barque too; and I don't suppose that all hands would take that craft through the water more than a knot an hour, and divided between us the gain would be so little that it would not be worth while fatiguing the men. There is one thing, it is some thirty miles from where we are lying to Toulon, and as likely as not the naval people there won't think it worth while to send a gunboat out here when a breeze may spring up before they are half-way out. It is not as if it were in summer, when a calm will last for a week. Before an hour has passed we may have the wind coming down from the north with strength enough to take our mast out of us. No, I should say that the chances are that they will leave us alone, unless there happens to be a gunboat or two lying somewhere in shelter among these islands."

Half-an-hour later the look-out at the mast-head hailed again—

"It seems to me that there is a dark line coming across the water from the north, sir, and some fishing-boats close in shore have just lowered some of their sails."

"You had better go on board again at once, Harding; take five more men with you; we can manage very well with fifteen here. Get her royals and topgallant-sails furled, and it will be as well if you take a reef in your top-sails too. These squalls come down desperately hard, though they don't last long. We will keep together. If by any chance we get separated, make for Genoa—that is, if you cannot join theTartar. However, I hope that it is not going to blow as hard as all that. I want to hand her over as soon as I can."

Five men were ordered into the boat, and in a couple of minutes they were on board the barque, which was lying only a few lengths away. Sail was shortened on board both vessels, and in a quarter of an hour theywere under very reduced canvas. Peter ran up the ratlines for some distance.

"It is coming along like a racehorse, Mr. Harding," he shouted. "You had better put two or three men in a boat alongside, and get her head round, so that it will take her aft."

The vessels were still becalmed, and although the white line of water was still a mile away, the sound of the ripple was plainly perceptible. The schooner's head was also taken round, and both craft were ready for the squall when it struck them. It was well that they had been got round in time, for lying motionless they might have been capsized before they could get way on them, had they been caught broadside to the wind. As it was, both were driven down until the water almost came over the bows; then as they gathered way they sprang forward.

"I don't think that it is going to last long, Jamieson," Peter said to the gunner's mate.

"No, I don't think so, sir; these squalls which begin so hard generally blow themselves out in half-an-hour, or else settle down into a steady breeze."

After running for half-an-hour the squall had so far abated that they were put on their course again, and ran rapidly down to the frigate, the wind dropping gradually, until when within a mile of theTartar, which was still lying becalmed, it left them altogether. Peter ordered eight men into the cutter with the tow-rope, Harding did the same, and after an hour's rowing the craft were within hailing distance of theTartar. Peter got into the boat and was rowed on board.

"So you have taken a prize I see, Mr. Vignerolles," the captain said.

"Yes, sir, and she is a valuable one; she is loaded with colonial products, coffee, sugar, tobacco, and so on. I thought that I had better bring her straight to you, for I should have weakened my crew too much if I had senther down to Gibraltar. I have brought her manifest on board. She is a new vessel, and carries twelve guns. We took her by surprise without a blow being struck. This is the report of her capture," and he handed the document that he had written out, together with the ship's papers, to the captain. The latter glanced down both papers.

"Very smartly done, Mr. Vignerolles, the surprise was very well managed; for had they had a suspicion that you were an enemy, it might have cost you some hard fighting before you took her, as her guns are heavier than yours are, and her crew stronger; besides, you might have knocked her about, and as she is a new vessel that would have been a pity. She is a very valuable prize. I suppose you want me to take her in charge, and to let you have your crew again?"

"If you please, sir; we are not very strong-handed now, and if I had to put men on board another prize I should be quite crippled—even now I can hardly work all my guns."

The captain smiled. "That is to say that you would like ten more men, Mr. Vignerolles?"

"I should indeed, sir, if you would be kind enough to give them to me."

"Well, as you have brought us in a prize worth, I should say at least, twenty thousand pounds, I think that I must let you have them. How about your prisoners?"

"They are shut up in the fo'castle, sir; we have a heavy coil of rope against the door. Mr. Harding tells me that they have tried to break out twice, and that he has had to threaten to fire upon them."

"We will take charge of them."

The master and mate with fifteen men were at once sent on board the prize. Harding with his crew returned to the schooner, and ten more men from the frigate were sent on board her. Then theAlertdipped her ensign and laid her course west; while the frigate, escorting theprize, headed south-west, as the captain intended to see her well past the French coast before he left her; for although no French men-of-war had, so far as he had learned, put out from Toulon, it was certain that French privateers would very soon be fitted out to prey upon British commerce. The breeze had sprung up again, and the schooner, slipping fast through the water, soon drew away from the others. A large ship was seen coming out from Toulon, but theAlert, sailing much faster, soon lost sight of her. Four days later, returning from the westward, theAlert, rounding a headland, came in sight of the château. Peter uttered an exclamation as his eye fell upon her, and he caught up the glass.

"Good Heavens, Harding, the château is on fire, there is smoke pouring out of two of the lower windows, and—Yes, I can make out a white sheet or something outside the window where the signal was to be shown. I am afraid the château is in the hands of those ruffians of Marseilles. No doubt, directly they were seen coming the girls hung it out, though they would know that we should not be along here until eleven o'clock. Probably the place was taken some hours ago. You may be sure that the scoundrels would not set it on fire until they had sacked it from top to bottom. The only chance is that they may be hiding somewhere near the shore."

He threw the schooner up into the wind, and for an hour she lay there while the two midshipmen examined every stone and tree near the water through their glasses, but without seeing the slightest sign of any one hiding there.

"It is no use waiting any longer," Peter said at last. "If they had escaped before the place was taken they would have been here long ago, and would, of course, have signalled as soon as they saw us. We will make straight out to sea for the present, we can do nothinguntil it gets dark. I don't know, though. Put her head to the west again; I must go and see what is going on up there, and must run the risk of being caught. There is a battery in the next bay, and two or three villages farther on, so I must go at once. Get a boat down with four hands in it, while I run down and put on that fishing suit again. As soon as you pick the boat up make out to sea, and be here again at seven. Don't send the boat ashore unless you see me come down to the water's edge. If I am not there, stand off again, and come back two hours later; I may be detained. If I am not there then, come back at ten o'clock and send a boat in. Unless I come off then, you will know that I have got into some sort of mess. Cruise along as usual, and don't come back till evening the day after to-morrow. Then if I am not there, you had better find theTartar, tell the captain that I went on shore to see if I could get my friends out of the hands of these scoundrels, and that as I have not returned I must certainly have been taken prisoner."

He ran down below and hastily put on his disguise, hid two brace of pistols under the blouse, and went up again. The boat was already alongside. Harding was examining the shore with his glass.

"I don't see a soul moving, sir."

"Throw her up into the wind at once; if you go any farther they will make us out from the fort beyond the headland."

The sailors were armed with pistols and cutlasses. "Now, lads, take me ashore as quickly as you can, so that I can get well into the wood before any one who happens to see the boat come off can get there."

The sailors rowed at racing speed to the shore. All was still quiet. Peter jumped on to the beach, bidding the men row back as fast as they could; then he started at a quick run through the wood. When he approached the château he saw a crowd of some four or five hundredmen in front of him. All were armed, some with muskets, others with pikes, while some carried swords. Casks of wine had been brought up from the cellars, and half-a-dozen of these had been broached, and the men were gathered thickly round them.

"Drink away, you brutes," Peter muttered to himself. "I wish I could drop a couple of handfuls of arsenic into each of those barrels—not many of you would get back to Marseilles."

As Peter could speak French as well as English he had no fear of his disguise being suspected, and he sauntered up boldly to the crowd. No one paid any attention to him. It was natural enough that fishermen, seeing the flames which were now pouring out from almost every window in the house, should come up and see what was going on. Very many of the crowd were already showing signs that their draughts had been deep ones. They were shouting out scraps of the revolutionary songs; some were howling, "Death to the aristocrats!" In front of the principal entrance a pike was stuck up with a head upon it. Peter strolled towards it, and, as he had feared, soon recognised the features of the baron. Passing by, he came to the entrance; a dozen dead bodies were lying there. It was evident that the baron had, as he said he would, defended it with his servants, and that all had fallen, but not until they had killed at least an equal number of their assailants. Looking about he saw a small group of men standing apart from the house. He directed his steps in that direction, and saw sitting on the ground in their midst the baroness and her two daughters. One of the men who were guarding them came up to him.

"Have you just come up from the sea, comrade?"

"Yes; we were in our boat and saw the flames, so I landed to see what was the matter."

"You see the tyrant is dead. He has saved theguillotine trouble. As for the women, justice will be done on them."

"No doubt, no doubt," Peter said; "but aristocrats though they are, they were kind to tenants on their estate."

"Bah! when every sou had been wrung from them they flung a few back. What goodness was there in that? The aristocrats must be stamped out root and branch; they have fattened too long on the people."

"Yes, the de Vignerolles have been here a long time—hundreds of years they say."

"Yes; think of that, draining the life-blood of France for hundreds of years. However, it is our turn now. Well, by to-morrow morning they will be lodged in the prison, to-morrow they will be tried, and the next morning the guillotine will have the last word with them—we don't waste time with these people. Go over there and get a drink—they have got wine, the nobles have, while we who tend the vines are obliged to drink water."

"When will you start, comrade?"

"Not for three or four hours yet. We left Marseilles at midnight, and had well-nigh twenty miles to march, and the men must have a rest before they go back."

Peter had now learned all that he wanted to know; but he felt that it were better that he should linger for a while, so he sauntered across to one of the groups. A cup of wine was held out to him by one of the men who had installed himself as server.

"Drink death to all tyrants, my friend," he said.

"That will I heartily. 'Death to all tyrants,'" and he drank off the wine.

"You will soon be on board a ship fighting the English," the Frenchman said. "There was an order yesterday that all fishermen were to repair at once to Toulon to man the ships there."

"We have not received it yet," Peter said; "but I for one shall not be sorry to be on the deck of one of theships of war now at Toulon. Fishing is all very well, but that will soon be spoiled if the English war vessels come cruising along the coast; besides, now all the aristocrats are being killed, we shall get but poor prices for our fish."

He remained for another half-hour watching what was going on. There was scarce one of the crowd that had not some portion of the booty about him; costly curtains, rich hangings, and even ladies' dresses were wrapped round and round their bodies, or tied up so as to form scarves over their shoulders. Some had made up bundles to be carried on their muskets. One ruffian was swaggering along with the Baron's hat on his head. Many had already lain down on the grass to sleep off the effects of the wine and the fatigue of their night march. One party of men, more drunk than others, had joined hand-in-hand, and were dancing round the pike on which was the baron's head, singing aÇa ira. Peter's fingers itched to grasp his pistols, but he restrained his fury until he reached the farthest group, and then walked at a leisurely pace away into the shrubbery.

As soon as he was out of sight he dashed off, and did not pause until he reached the shore. The schooner was a mile away, heading straight in. Glancing to the right, he saw a party of soldiers marching along the beach. They evidently came from the fort beyond the headland, and were about three or four hundred yards away from him. As he stopped they halted, and were evidently watching the schooner. Without hesitation he threw off his blouse and fisherman's boots, threw down his pistols, and, running forward, stepped into the water. He went easily for some twenty yards when he heard a shout and knew that he was seen. He now swam his hardest, and by the time the soldiers came up, was sixty or seventy yards from shore. They at once opened fire; but he dived and swam straight on under water, coming up occasionally to breathe, and then diving again untilhe was a couple of hundred yards out, and beyond the reach of any chance ball. The schooner was now thrown up into the wind, and a boat had been lowered, and was rowing towards him. The schooner was, as usual, flying the French flag. In a few minutes the boat came up and took him in.

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