The least unpromising idea of them all, was that suggested by Lieutenant Carre Tupper, of the flag-ship; which was, that he should endeavour to effect a landing inside the chain of defences, and, penetrating into the town, gain all the information he could; and trust to his good fortune for the means of getting off to the ship again. This plan seemed all the more feasible, from the fact that he spoke the French language with the ease and fluency of a Parisian.

After much consideration, therefore, the admiral accepted this gallant young officer's offer, and gave his consent to the experiment.

A disguise was accordingly prepared under Lieutenant Tupper's own supervision; and on the first favourable night the experiment was tried.

It was perfectly calm, with an overcast sky and no moon, when he stood, dressed in his disguise, in the gangway of the "Victory," receiving from the admiral his last instructions; and many a hearty hand-shake, and many a fervent "Success attend you, my dear fellow," did he receive before passing down the lofty side of the 100-gun ship, into the pinnace which, with muffled oars and a crew armed to the teeth, awaited him at the foot of the side-ladder.

At last the final parting was spoken, the final shake of the hand given, and with a gay laugh, in response to the half-serious, half-jocose warnings to take care of himself which followed him, he sprang lightly down the side, took his seat in the stern-sheets, and gave the order to shove off.

He had most carefully reconnoitred the place beforehand, both from the topgallant-yard of the "Victory," and from the deck of the little "Mouette;" so that he knew exactly for what point to steer; and there was no hesitation whatever upon that score.

All went well with the little expedition until the boat arrived within half a mile of Bastia, when a little breeze sprang up; the canopy of cloud which had overspread the heavens cleared away as if by magic, and the stars shone out brilliantly, flooding earth and sea with a light which, though subdued, was sufficient to reveal to the sharp-eyed French sentinels the small dark object which was silently stealing toward the shore.

The alarm was immediately given; but instead of opening upon the boat with their heavy guns, at the risk of missing their object, and driving off their prey, the French allowed the boat still to approach, and, marking carefully the spot for which she was making, silently placed a strong body of sharpshooters in ambush to await her coming.

Had the Frenchmen in ambush but observed the most ordinary caution, there is no doubt they would easily have captured the boat and the whole of her crew, but instead of this they gave way to the excitement which is one of their failings, and indulged in such loud and continuous chatter that the coxswain of the pinnace heard them when within about twenty yards of the landing-place, and the boat was at once pulled round with her head off shore, and the crew ordered to "give way with a will," in order to escape the very obvious danger.

But it was too late. The moment that it was observed that their destined prey had taken the alarm, a terrific volley of musketry was poured into the boat, and the gallant young officer who had undertaken the chief risk of the expedition fell forward into the bottom of the boat, dead and riddled with bullets. The coxswain also and two of the crew were more or less severely wounded. The boat was as speedily as possible taken out of range, and though, when it was found that there was a prospect of her escaping, some of the batteries opened upon her, and two or three boats started from the shore in chase, she reached the "Victory" without further mishap, about an hour and a half from the time when she started upon the disastrous expedition.

Much grief was felt throughout the fleet at the loss of this gallant and promising young officer, whose distinguished services at the evacuation of Toulon, as well as his kindly and genial disposition, had made him universally liked and respected.

After this, there was no further talk of obtaining information respecting the condition of the enemy.

But the idea had taken hold of me, and I had thought about it until I had become completely fascinated.

It certainly seemed to me a preposterous piece of presumption that I should flatter myself I could succeed where an older and much more talented officer had failed, but the idea had got into my head, and the more I thought of it, the more sanguine did I become of success.

I had, after much thought, evolved a scheme which appeared to me so very promising that I determined to put it to the test without delay, taking care, however, not to breathe a word of my purpose to any of the officers, because I felt certain that after the late lamentable failure, no further attempts of a like kind would be permitted.

I needed assistance, however, to carry this notable scheme into effect, and I accordingly took little Bobby Summers into my confidence.

The "Mouette," I ought to mention, had been brought round with the rest of the fleet, and was occasionally employed in communicating between the ships and the forces on shore. Bobby and I retained our former posts in her, and as she was required at all hours of the day and night, we had removed our chests and hammocks to her little cabin, merely visiting the old "Juno" at odd times, to maintain our connexion with her, when we had nothing else in particular to do.

This arrangement was most favourable to my scheme, inasmuch as it allowed of my embarking upon it unmolested, and it also rendered little Bobby's assistance available at whatever moment I might require it.

There seemed to be only one serious difficulty in my way, and that was the want of a really good and effective disguise; and this difficulty was quite unexpectedly removed by the merest accident.

I had taken Summers into my confidence, and had received from him a prompt promise of his heartiest co-operation; the first dark night therefore which followed upon the unfolding of my purpose to my enthusiastic shipmate, we took the first steps necessary to its accomplishment.

I am, as I think I have already mentioned, an excellent swimmer, and it was upon the possession of this accomplishment that I chiefly based my hopes of success. My plan was simply to row in as near the shore as possible, accompanied by Summers, in the cockleshell of a dinghy belonging to the "Mouette," and then quietly slip into the water and swim the remainder of the distance. The dinghy in question was so very diminutive a craft that I felt sure we might under favourable circumstances get quite close in without being discovered.

The first thing which I considered necessary, was to ascertain the set and rate of the tide, such as it was; and to do this, we started away in the dinghy one very dark night, armed with a cutlass and a brace of pistols each, and paddled leisurely in toward the shore.

We arrived in due time within about half a mile of the harbour's mouth, and then laid upon our oars to watch the drift of a small piece of plank, painted white, which we launched overboard, keeping the boat just far enough away to prevent her influencing its course, while at the same time able to distinguish its position pretty clearly.

We had been occupied thus for nearly an hour, and had seen enough to very nearly satisfy me upon the point in question, when, at no great distance away, we heard a sound as of some one laying in an oar upon a boat's thwart.

Curiosity at once urged us to ascertain, if possible, the source and meaning of this sound, as we felt pretty confident it could proceed from no boat belonging to the fleet, and we easily arrived at the logical conclusion that it must therefore proceed from some boat belonging to the enemy. Abandoning, therefore, our float to its fate, we loosened our cutlasses in their sheaths, and our pistols in the belts which supported them, and very cautiously paddled in the direction from whence the sound appeared to proceed.

We had not gone very far when we heard the sound of voices speaking in a low tone, apparently just inshore of us, and we accordingly turned the boat's head in that direction.

As we proceeded, the sound of talking rapidly became more distinct, and at length we were near enough to distinguish that the speakers, whoever they were, ere conversing in French.

At this point we rested on our oars again, and peered eagerly into the darkness in the endeavour to see something of our neighbours.

After perhaps a minute's intense gaze shoreward, Bobby leaned over, and whispered,—

"There they are, right ahead, and close under our bows. It is a boat, with two men in her, and as nearly as I can make out, they are leaning over the side and hauling something into the boat."

I looked intently in the direction indicated, and at length succeeded in making out the craft. There were, as Bob had said, two men in her; they were leaning over the side, and as I watched, one of them raised his arm, and I detected, just for a moment, the faint glitter of some object just beneath it. At the same instant a voice said in French,—

"Here is another, and a fine fellow he is, too. He will make a splendid dinner for the general to-morrow."

"Fishermen, by all that is lucky!" I exclaimed, in an excited whisper. "Now, Bob, let's dash alongside and board the craft; a selection from the rig of those two men will make exactly the rig I want."

"All right," returned Bob. "You're the skipper, give the word, and we'll nab the Mossoos in a jiffy."

"Now!" said I.

We dashed our oars into the water, and in half a dozen strokes were alongside the astonished fishermen.

As the two boats touched, Bob laid in his oar, and with the dinghy's painter in one hand and his drawn cutlass in the other, leaped on board the stranger, treading as he did so upon a mass of fish which lay writhing and flapping feebly in the bottom of the boat, and instantly assuming, quite unintentionally on his part, you may be sure, a sitting position amongst the thickest of the slimy, scaly cargo. As he boarded forward, I did so aft, and presenting a pistol in each hand, as sternly as I could, while struggling to suppress my laughter at Bob's exploit, ordered the fishermen to surrender, and to keep perfect silence, upon pain of instant death as the penalty of disobedience.

The poor fellows were taken completely by surprise, and seemed to have no idea of resistance. They meekly cast off that portion of their lines which still remained overboard, and taking to their oars, pulled quietly away in the direction which I ordered, or towards the "Mouette," the dinghy being in tow astern.

As we, or rather they, rowed off to the cutter I questioned the men as to their reason for running so great a risk for the sake of a few fish, and in reply gained the information that the garrison, though still in possession of a moderate supply of food, foresaw that a time of scarcity was rapidly approaching; and the general had, accordingly, a few days previously taken the remaining provisions under his own control, issuing to each inhabitant a daily ration upon a very reduced scale. Under these circumstances, the fishermen of the place thought they saw their way to a good market for any fish they could contrive to capture, and a few of them had accordingly ventured out at night with their hooks and lines.

This was most valuable information, if true, but coming from the enemy I thought it scarcely reliable—though the men spoke with the utmost freedom, and apparently in perfectly good faith. I therefore determined, while slightly modifying my original plan, still to carry it out.

On our arrival on board the "Mouette," I invited our two prisoners down into the cabin, and pouring them out a stiff "nor'wester" each, to cheer them up a little and loosen their tongues, I told them frankly that it was necessary I should make my way into Bastia, and intimated to them, that as they would be retained as hostages until my safe return, and liberated immediately afterwards, it would obviously be to their interest to give me all the information and help in their power to enable me to provide for my safety. I also informed them that it would be necessary for me to borrow certain portions of their habiliments, to be used as a disguise.

"It is a dangerous game which you are about to play, monsieur," remarked the elder of the two, who gave his name as Jean Leferrier. "The greatest precautions are taken to prevent the access of spies into the place. Most of the inhabitants are well known, and any stranger would certainly be noticed and sharply questioned as to how he came there, and upon what business. I greatly fear you will be arrested before you have been three hours in the place. If monsieur will condescend to accept the advice of a poor, ignorant fisherman like myself, he will abandon his idea, and not embark upon so hazardous an enterprise."

This, however, I would not listen to for a moment, in fact every word spoken only made me the more determined to go on; and this I intimated pretty plainly.

"Perhaps if monsieur were to adopt the role of an escaped prisoner from the British fleet he might succeed in disarming suspicion," remarked Pierre Cousin, the other prisoner. "Monsieur's accent is certainly not quite perfect (if he will pardon my presuming to say so); still it may pass without attracting much notice, and if you, Jean, were to give him a note to la mere, she could take him in and look after him,—that is, if monsieur could endure the poor accommodation to be found under her roof."

"Certainly," replied Jean, "that might be done. But monsieur would have to report himself to Monsieur le Maire immediately on his arrival, and would therefore have to be prepared with a good detailed plausible story."

I replied that I thought I could manufacture a story which would hold water sufficiently to satisfy the functionary referred to, the thought flashing into my mind that I could personate the lad whom we had found in charge of the "Mouette" on the eventful evening of her capture.

"Then if monsieur is still determined to pursue his adventure, I will write the letter," remarked Jean.

"Do so at once, by all means," said I. "Tell her that, venturing too far out, you have been made prisoners by a boat's crew from the British fleet, and that you found, on board the ship to which you have been taken, another prisoner, who had contrived to make preparations for his escape, and that you had only time to write this note, informing your mother of your whereabouts, and recommending the bearer to her good offices, before he proceeded to put his plans into execution, the night being favourable for the attempt."

"There is no time like the present," I continued to Summers. "The night is dark, and altogether favourable for the enterprise. I have the locality fresh in mind, so I shall go at once."

"And when do you intend to return?" asked Bob.

"Ah!" I replied, "that is more than I can tell you. You may depend upon it, I shall not stay an hour longer than is absolutely necessary for obtaining the required information, but whether I shall be able to get out again when that is obtained, it is impossible to say. There is one thing you must do, Summers, and that is, keep a constant lookout, from the time I leave you until I turn up again, and if you observe anything unusual inshore, leading you to suppose I am attempting to get out, do the best you can to help me. I shall leave a note with you for the skipper, explaining what I intend to do; and that note I want you to take on board, and deliver into his own hands, the first thing in the morning."

I then set about writing the note, and by the time that I had finished, Jean had also brought his communication to a close. He passed it over the table for me to read, and I found that it was substantially to the same effect as I had suggested, but written in his own homely and not very precise style of composition. I looked it very carefully through to see that there was no covert suggestion therein of a character intended to betray me; but as far as I could see it was a perfectly straightforward affair from beginning to end.

This matter settled, I borrowed a pair of breeches, and the long boots belonging to one of them; and the dirty ragged canvas overalls of the other; topping off with a dilapidated blue worsted cap which I had been wearing continually since joining the "Mouette," and my rig-out was complete.

I intended pulling boldly ashore in the boat belonging to the captured fishermen, that being infinitely preferable to my mind to swimming ashore as I had originally proposed; so, as soon as I was ready I sat down once more, and questioned them very minutely respecting the position of the landing-place, the locality of la mere's domicile, and everything else I could think of likely to be of service in my undertaking.

Jean, the elder of the two, replied freely to all my inquiries; adding such information as suggested itself to him at the moment, and winding up by saying,—

"Monsieur must not be surprised if he is challenged on entering the harbour, that is almost certain to occur; and if it does he has only to give the watch-word, and he will not be further interfered with."

"And what is the watch-word?" I asked.

"Simply 'Bateau-pecheur; Bastia,'" he replied. "If you are challenged give the pass-word, and lie upon your oars; that will show them that you are one of us, and you will at once receive permission to proceed."

"Very well, I think I am pretty well primed now, and may venture to start. Good-bye, Bob, old fellow. Keep a sharp lookout, and bear a hand with your assistance if you see that I need any when returning. And don't forget my letter to the skipper."

"All right, never fear; I'll remember everything. I only wish I could have gone instead of you, Chester. If you succeed it will be no end of a feather in your cap, but if you fail,"—he concluded the sentence with a pantomimic gesture expressive of strangulation. "But there," he added, "I've no fear of that; I never saw such a fellow as you for pulling through; good-bye, old boy; ta-ta; 'be sure you write.'"

And he wrung my hand heartily; with a gay laugh upon his lips, but something very like a tear glittering in his eye, as the feeble rays of the cabin lamp struggled through the skylight and fell upon his face.

I stepped into the heavy, clumsy, and slimy boat belonging to the fishermen; and, shipping the oars, shoved off and gave way for the shore; a faint twinkling light here and there in the town serving to guide me upon my proper course.

It took me nearly two hours to reach the harbour; the boat being heavy, and the oars much more cumbersome than any I had ever handled before; but I passed in between the two piers at last; and as I did so a dark figure appeared on the extremity of one of them, looming up indistinctly against the dusky sky; and a voice exclaimed sharply, in French,—

"Who goes there?"

"Bateau-pecheur; Bastia," I replied composedly, resting on my oars at the same time.

"You are late, comrade," remarked the sentry. "What luck?"

"Very poor," I replied. "I have only been able to find half my lines, the darkness is so great; and in searching for the others I have lost a good deal of time."

"Ah," returned he, "you are lucky to have found any of them. Pass on, monsieur le pecheur; and good-night."

"Good-night," I shouted back, stretching out at the oars once more, and rowing laboriously up the harbour against a slight ebb-tide.

I had no difficulty in finding the landing-place. It was a sort of slipway leading down from the top of the quay to the water's edge; and some ten or a dozen other fishing-boats were either hauled up there, or moored alongside. There was not a soul to be seen about the place when I ranged up alongside the green and slimy piles of which the slipway was constructed; I was consequently able to moor the boat at leisure, and in such a way that if I wanted her again in a hurry, I should have no difficulty in quickly casting her adrift.

I then gathered up the fish and placed them in a basket which was stowed away in the eyes of the boat; and throwing the rope strap over my shoulders, trudged with my load up the slipway until I stood upon the top of the quay.

I had been very minute in my inquiries as to how I was to proceed on landing, so as to be able to go direct to the abode of Dame Leferrier; and the fisherman Jean had been equally minute and careful in directing me; I had only to stand a few seconds, therefore, as though taking breath after the steep ascent, and look carefully about, to recognise the landmarks which he had given me to determine the direction I ought to take.

A low and villainous-looking waterside tavern stood at the corner of a street at no great distance, dimly visible in the light of a grimy lantern which swung over the door; and making for this, and keeping it on my right, I found myself in a narrow, wretchedly-paved street; up which I passed for about a couple of hundred yards, when I found myself opposite a rickety little hovel, having a light burning in its window. I was directed to look for such a light in the house to which I was bound; and as this appeared to be the only place in the street so distinguished, I walked boldly up to the door, raised the wooden latch, and entered.

I found myself in a small, low-ceiled room, stone-paved; with a heavy wooden table in the centre, having a rough wooden bench on each side; a couple of three-legged stools against the wall; a pair of clumsy oars and a boat-hook in one corner; a boat's mast and sails in another; a fireplace, with a few smouldering logs, over which was suspended an iron pot, occupied nearly the whole of one side of the room; and, by the side of the hearth, with her back toward me, sat an old dame, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, gazing, half-asleep, at the almost extinct fire.

On my entrance, she rose wearily to her feet, and looked round in feeble surprise, but without any sign of perturbation at seeing a stranger before her.

"Have I the honour to address Madame Leferrier?" I inquired, with as polite a bow as the heavy fish-basket on my back permitted me to make.

"I am Dame Leferrier," she replied. "Who are you, young man? As far as my dim eyes will allow me to judge, I have never seen you before."

"You are quite right, madame," said I. "I am a perfect stranger to you. This note, however, from your son Jean will tell you who I am."

"A note from Jean!" she exclaimed. "What is the meaning of it? Why is he not here, himself?"

"I am sorry to inform you that a slight misfortune has befallen him," I replied. "He and his comrade Pierre are at present prisoners in the hands of the English; but they will no doubt soon find the means to escape, as I have just done."

"Prisoners!" she exclaimed. "Mon Dieu! what will become of them? And what," she added, "will become of me, now that I have lost the support which they only would give me?"

"Be not distressed, madame," I replied, "either on their account or your own. They will be treated with the utmost kindness, prisoners though they are; and, for yourself, I shall need a home until I can get out of Bastia and return to my own; and if you will give me shelter, I am both able and willing to pay you well for it."

I still held the note in my hand, and as I ceased speaking I offered it her again.

"Read it out to me, monsieur, if you please," said she. "My sight is but poor at the best of times; and is certainly not equal to reading poor Jean's letter by this light."

I accordingly read the letter over to her, and when I had finished, she remarked,—

"Poor boys! poor boys! Prisoners! Well, well, it cannot be helped. We must be patient, and trust to the mercy of Le Bon Dieu. And now, monsieur, as to yourself. You are doubtless hungry and tired. Here is the supper which I had prepared for my two; alas! they are not here to eat it; but draw up, monsieur; put the basket in the corner there, and draw up to the table. You are heartily welcome to such as a poor widow has to give; and when you have satisfied your hunger I will show you to your bed. It was my boy's—my poor Jean's—ah! will he ever sleep on it again?"

I drew up to the table, in accordance with the poor old soul's invitation; and while partaking of what turned out to be a very savoury meal, did my best to cheer her up with the hope of speedily seeing her Jean once more.

My meal concluded, she conducted me up a rickety, worm-eaten staircase, to a small room above that which we had just left; and indicating one of the two beds therein as the one belonging to her Jean, and the one, therefore, which I was to occupy, bade me good-night and retired.

I must admit that, now I had fairly embarked upon my adventure, I found there were certain physical discomforts incidental to it, which were by no means to my taste. Thus, the disguise upon which my safety to a great extent depended, consisted of clothing the reverse of clean, and though it was certainly odoriferous enough, the perfume was by no means that of "Araby the blest." Then there was my lodging. It was moderately clean, perhaps, compared with the condition of a few of the places in the immediate neighbourhood; but ideas of cleanliness, like ideas upon many other matters, vary, and this place, though doubtless considered scrupulously clean by the rightful occupants, was sufficiently the reverse to make me really uncomfortable; and for a short time I abandoned myself to reflections the reverse of self- complimentary with regard to the impulse which had led me into such a situation. But the fact remained that I was there; and common-sense suggested the desirability of making the best of the situation; I accordingly arranged matters as comfortably as I could, and flinging myself upon the coarse pallet was soon wrapped in a dreamless slumber.

My first business in the morning was to find out and report myself to the maire. I had given a great deal of consideration to this matter while rowing ashore on the previous night, weighing carefully the arguments for and against such a course; and had finally arrived at the conclusion that, though such a proceeding would undoubtedly be fraught with great danger, yet it would in reality be the safest thing to do. The great thing to avoid was the exciting of suspicion; and the surest means of achieving this seemed to me to be, not the actual courting of observation, certainly, but the careful avoidance of anything which seemed like shunning it.

Accordingly, after an early breakfast, during the discussion of which I easily extracted from my unsuspicious hostess all the information necessary to enable me to find my way to the various points I deemed it most important to visit, I shouldered my basket of fish, and set out on my way to the residence of Monsieur le Maire.

As I slouched heavily and leisurely along the streets, affecting as nearly as I could the clumsy gait of a common seaman on terra firma, I glanced carefully about me to note such signs as might make themselves visible of the state of things within the town. It was not however until I reached the more respectable business quarter of the town that I was able to detect much. Then I observed tickets in the windows and on the stalls, announcing the various articles for sale—and especially provisions—at only—such a price—and exorbitantly high these prices were, too.

I soon had reason to see that my resolution to report myself was a wise one; for I had not proceeded far on my way before I found myself the subject of sundry suspicious glances, and shortly afterwards a corporal of infantry hurried up behind, and, laying his hand upon my shoulder, exclaimed,—

"Halt, friend, and give me your name and place of residence, if you please. You are a fisherman, apparently, yet two of your own people have just pointed you out to me as certainly a stranger."

"I am a stranger, comrade," I replied composedly. "I only arrived in Bastia late last night, after effecting my escape from the British fleet two hours previously. Two of the fishermen belonging to this place— Jean Leferrier and Pierre Cousin by name—venturing too far off shore last night, were pounced upon and made prisoners by a boat belonging to the fleet. They were placed in irons, and confined between the same two guns as myself, and learning that I intended trying to escape, they directed me how to find my way on shore, and how to behave when here; giving me also a note to convey to Madame Leferrier. I am now on my way to the house of Monsieur le Maire to report myself."

"Good!" exclaimed my unwelcome companion; "I will accompany you there, and show you the house, since you are a stranger."

I did not, of course, dare to manifest any objection to such a proposal, or I should instantly have been made a prisoner, if indeed I might not consider myself in reality one already.

I accordingly acquiesced in the most cheerful manner I could assume; and we trudged on together, I describing, in response to the corporal's questioning, the details of my assumed escape.

Just as I had finished my recital, we arrived at the corner of a street, and my companion stopped.

"This," said he, "is the street in which Monsieur le Maire resides. But before we go further, may I ask, comrade, what you are going to do with those fish in your basket?" casting at the same time a hungry glance over my shoulder.

"Well," said I, "they really belong to poor Jean Leferrier and his mate; and I intended asking Monsieur le Maire to accept one or two of the finest of them, after which I should sell the remainder, and hand over the proceeds to Jean's mother, who I find depended entirely upon her son for house, food, and clothing. But I suppose one or two more or less will not make much difference to the good dame, especially,"—a bright idea striking me—"as I intend going out to-night and trying my luck; so if you would like a bit of fish for dinner and will accept one or two, make your choice, comrade; you have been very kind in guiding me thus far, and I am sure you are heartily welcome."

I was about to unsling the basket from my shoulders, as I spoke, but he hastily stopped me.

"You are a good fellow, mon ami," said he, "and I accept your offer. But not here—it would never do for me to be seen here in public accepting such a present; it would be sure to get to our general's ears, and I should be simply flogged for my presumption. Why, if you had not told me yourself that you are a stranger, I should have known it at once, from your ignorance of the value of the contents of your basket. Why, we are closely besieged, mon cher; provisions are growing scarce, and your fish are worth—well—almost their weight in silver. Come this way; never mind Monsieur le Maire, he would only send you on to the general's quarters to report yourself there; so you may as well save your intended present to him—or, better still, hand it to the general's cook, and that will insure you from all further trouble in the future, especially if you happen to make a point of leaving a little bit of fish at the general's whenever you happen to be passing that way. Ah! here we are at the barracks!"

We turned in, as he spoke, through a pair of large, high folding gates of wood, thickly studded along the top with sharp iron spikes, and I found myself in the barrack square, a large open space, surrounded on three sides by buildings, and on the fourth—that side which abutted on the street—by a wall about twenty feet high.

The edifice, which occupied the whole of that side of the square facing the street, was an extremely ancient structure, and had evidently been at one time a castle of considerable strength. The walls were constructed entirely of masonry, apparently of great solidity; but the age of the building, and the ravages of time were plainly indicated by the stained and weather-beaten appearance of the stone-work, as well as by the way in which the exterior surface of the masonry had crumbled away, leaving the once smooth face rough and jagged, with frequent indentations, where stones had become loosened in their setting and finally dislodged altogether. The chief entrance to the building was through a high and wide semicircular archway, of considerable depth, adorned with crumbling pillars and half-obliterated mouldings, flanked on each side by solid and bold projecting buttresses. The lower storey of the building was lighted by good-sized windows of modern construction, which had evidently been pierced in the walls at no very distant date; but above this the original narrow slits in the masonry which did duty as windows still remained. A short flagstaff, from which, the tricolour fluttered in the morning breeze, surmounted the central portion of the building, which, from its superior height and apparent strength, I judged must have originally been the keep.

The two adjacent sides of the square were occupied by plain brick buildings, three storeys high, which evidently constituted the men's quarters.

My companion conducted me across the square to the great centre door already mentioned, and, on our safely reaching the shelter of its deep recess, bade me place my basket on the ground. I did so; whereupon— first glancing round to see whether there were any curious eyes turned in our direction, and apparently satisfied that there were not—he stooped down, and planting himself well in front of my basket, hastily selected a couple of moderate-sized fish, which he thrust up inside his tunic. This done, he seized a wooden handle which hung at the extremity of a rusty chain issuing from a small aperture in the wall, and tugged smartly at it. The result was a clanging from a large bell, imperfectly heard in the remote distance of the interior.

A minute or so elapsed; and then a wicket, cut in the woodwork of the door, opened; and an individual in plain clothes, apparently an officer's orderly, became visible inside.

"Can Monsieur Lemaitre be seen?" inquired my companion.

"Doubtless," replied the individual to whom the question was put. "Come in, Jacques. What do you want with him?"

"That I will tell him myself, comrade, when I see him," responded Jacques, passing through the wicket and beckoning me to follow; which of course I did.

"As you please, mon ami," replied the other; and without further parley he departed to apprise that important personage, the general's cook, that he was wanted.

In the interval I employed myself in looking round me.

I found myself in a sort of entrance-hall of considerable size. The wall opposite the door contained a huge fireplace, sunk in the thickness of the masonry. The side walls were pierced, on my right and left, with semicircular archways, deeply moulded, and closed with strong wooden doors; and on the left, a massive and elaborately carved stone staircase, of much more modern date than the building itself, led upward to a stone gallery which ran all round the wall, with doors communicating with the apartments above. The hall ceiling, two storeys above the pavement, was of stone, groined; the ribs of the groins boldly moulded, and massively keyed in the centre with a stone of considerable size, boldly carved with the representation of a dragon or griffin coiled into a circle. Over the great fireplace hung a trophy of rusty and dinted armour, surmounted by another trophy of faded and dusty silken banners; and two other flag trophies adorned the side walls.

By the time that I had completed my survey, a sound of shuffling footsteps was heard; and immediately afterwards there emerged from a passage underneath the staircase, a short, stout good-tempered-looking personage, dressed in a blouse and military trousers, with a cook's cap on his head, and a long white apron in front, reaching from his neck almost to his feet. He held a huge meat-knife in one hand, and a basting-ladle in the other. As he approached, my friend Jacques hastily informed me in a whisper that this was Monsieur Lemaitre.

In answer to this individual's inquiries, the corporal related the story of my pretended escape from the enemy, hinting also my desire to report myself to the general; and winding up with a description of my anxiety to procure Monsieur Lemaitre's acceptance, on behalf of the general, of the pick of my basket.

I began dimly to see that the general—whoever he was—was a much- dreaded individual; and that this present of fish, suggested by my friend the corporal, was intended by him, in all kindness, as a bribe, whereby I might obtain as favourable an introduction as possible to the presence of the great man.

Monsieur Lemaitre stooped down and, with much deliberation, turned over the various fish which I had brought, finally selecting a quantity of the choicest, amounting to about half my stock, which he laid upon the stone pavement of the hall. This done, he, in a very gracious and patronising manner, assured me I might count upon his best services to obtain for me an early interview with his master, and retired; promising to send some one forthwith to remove the fish he had selected.

The moment he was out of sight, my friend the corporal turned to me, and congratulated me warmly upon the favourable reception which had been accorded me by the great man's great man; congratulating himself, at the same time, upon the opportunity which had been afforded him of rendering a service of some little importance to a stranger. As he spoke thus, he cast such an expressive glance into my fish-basket, that there was no possibility of my misunderstanding him. Accordingly, when he immediately added that, as he could now be of no further service to me, he would take his departure, I uttered a few words of thanks for his kindness; and expressed a hope that he would oblige me by making a further selection of fish, as a slight token of my gratitude.

"Well, comrade," said he, "since you are so anxious about the matter, I will; and I do it all the more readily since—between you and me—you will find these fellows about here such sharks that you will have to part with every fish in your basket before you will get an opportunity of reporting yourself. For my part, I detest such greediness; nothing is more abhorrent to a sensitive soul like mine; I consider that it ought to be baulked and discouraged in every way; and in order to aid in so good a work as far as possible I will just take this—and this—and these three—under my own care. And now—good-bye, comrade—nay, no thanks; you are heartily welcome; and I wish you a pleasant interview with the general."

Saying which he hastily retired through the wicket; just as a sound of footsteps along the passage under the staircase announced the approach of Monsieur Lemaitre's assistants.



CHAPTER TWENTY.

HOW THE ADVENTURE TERMINATED.

The new-comers proved to be a couple of the kitchen servants. They were provided with a basket, in which they removed the fish selected by Monsieur Lemaitre, taking them up and conveying them away without vouchsafing to favour me with so much as a single word.

The time passed on without any one else appearing; a silence, as if of the grave, prevailed in the building; and had it not been for the bugle- calls in the adjacent barrack-yard, the shouts of command and the measured tramp of the men at drill, together with the loud and frequent boom of artillery from the walls, and the fainter echo of our own ordnance in the distance, I might have supposed myself to be in a deserted city.

At length the tramp of horses became audible outside; the sound increased rapidly; and in another minute I became aware that a cavalcade of some sort had approached the great door of the building; then there came the sound of champing of bits, the clatter of accoutrements, the jingle of spurs, and loud voices talking and laughing. Finally the heavy latch of the door was turned, one leaf swung heavily back upon its well-oiled hinges, and a group of some fourteen officers entered the hall; among whom was one who I had no doubt was the general.

The majority of the officers merely glanced carelessly at me and passed on; one of them, however, apparently a lieutenant, stopped and asked me what I wanted.

I replied by telling him shortly the story I had arranged; adding that I had been advised to come up and report myself to the general. When I had finished he ordered me to follow him; and we made sail in the wake of the others; passing through a door at the far end of the hall, which led, not, as I had supposed, to a room, but to a long passage terminating in a yard, in one side of which was an archway leading through the building into the barrack-yard, and on the opposite side a group of one-storey buildings, the first of which appeared to be a sort of guard-room.

Entering this room, in which were some twenty men, who rose and saluted my conductor as we passed, we continued on through it into another and very large room, the tables in which were strewed with plans and drawings.

Here we found a great many of the officers who had preceded us, engaged in unbuckling their swords, etcetera, preparatory, as it seemed to me, to sitting down to work upon some of the drawings which lay scattered about.

Crossing this room also, followed by curious glances from many of its occupants, we paused before a door, at which my guide tapped.

"Entrez," exclaimed a voice from the inside.

The lieutenant turned the handle, threw open the door, and passed into the other apartment, signing to me to follow. I did so, and found myself in a small but very comfortably furnished room, containing a press full of papers, a case of books, half a dozen chairs, and a large writing-table, at which the individual whom I had rightly taken to be the general was just seating himself.

He was a man apparently between fifty and sixty years of age, a trifle above medium height, thin and spare of body, with a bronzed complexion, and grey hair and moustache, both cut quite short. His eyes were dark and piercing; the expression of his features severe and cruel; and his beauty—if he ever had any—was completely destroyed by a great ghastly scar which reached from the outer corner of his right eyebrow to his chin, splitting both the upper and under lip in its course.

"Well, Saint Croix; what now?" exclaimed he sharply, as we entered.

"I have taken the liberty of introducing this man to you at once, sir," said my guide. "He informs me that he is an escaped prisoner from the English fleet; and that in accordance with advice received, he wishes, as a stranger in the town, to report himself to you and to be duly registered."

"Call Montrouge here."

The lieutenant retired into the adjoining room, and presently reappeared, accompanied by another officer; the general, meanwhile, taking no notice whatever of me, but busying himself in searching among a large bundle of papers which lay on the table.

On the entrance of the two officers, their surly senior looked fiercely at the new-comer, and pointing to the opposite side of the table said,—

"Sit down there; take paper; and note down what this fellow has to say for himself."

Then turning angrily to me, he ordered me to proceed.

I told my story; stopping at intervals, when desired, in order that the officer who was taking it down might properly follow me. When I had finished, the officer called Montrouge was ordered to read over to me what he had written; and at the close I was asked by the general if that was a correct transcription of my story.

I replied that it was.

I was then ordered to give all the information I possessed with regard to the fleet; its strength; number and calibre of guns; and so on.

To this I replied that having been confined during the whole of my captivity between two guns, on the lower-deck, I had had no means of gaining any information whatever, either upon the points mentioned, or indeed any others.

My statement was received with a look of incredulity and a dissatisfied grunt.

"What think you, gentlemen," exclaimed the old martinet, "does this young man's story strike you as being truthful?"

"It sounds plausible enough," replied the officer called Montrouge. "I see no reason to doubt it."

"What is your opinion, Saint Croix?"

"I believe it to be the truth," replied the individual addressed.

"Good! We differ slightly in opinion, that is all, gentlemen," remarked the general. "For my own part, I am convinced that this story,"— striking disdainfully the written statement, which he held in his hand—"is a simple tissue of falsehood. Luckily, we possess the means of putting the matter to the test. Send for Guiseppe the Corsican."

Guiseppe the Corsican! the man who had sold me into the hands of the enemy once already, and who, I had every reason to believe, had betrayed Count Lorenzo di Paoli also. If this man and I were brought face to face, I was hopelessly lost.

At that moment, and not until then, did I feel what a shameful and despicable course of conduct I had entered upon. I had not only assumed voluntarily the role of a spy; but I had sought to shelter myself beneath a cloak of falsehood; and now, out of my own mouth was I to be judged—and surely condemned.

I felt thoroughly crestfallen and humiliated; not so much at my certain detection as a spy, but at having placed myself in a position where deliberate falsehood had become an absolute necessity to my safety, which after all it had not only failed to assure, but had hopelessly compromised.

A long and—to me—most painful pause ensued, neither of the officers questioning me further. Had they done so, I feel certain I should have thrown off the mask and avowed myself to be that hateful thing, a disguised and secret enemy.

At length a tap came to the door; and Lieutenant Saint Croix, who had gone out in search of Guiseppe, returned, bringing the man with him. A single glance was sufficient to satisfy me that my former enemy once more stood before me.

He approached the table, and, saluting the general, stood waiting, as it seemed to me, with some trepidation, to learn why he had been summoned to the dreaded presence of the chief.

"Attention, sir!" exclaimed the general harshly. "Do you recollect the circumstances connected with the theft of Captain Leroux's yacht, 'Mouette,' from Ajaccio?"

"Perfectly, sig— I mean, monsieur," he replied.

"Did you happen to know the lad who was taken away in her?"

"Francois? Yes, I knew him," he replied.

"Is he at all like this fisherman?" asked the general.

The fellow turned his gaze on me with an expression of stolid indifference. Regarding me steadfastly for a full minute, I saw his eyes brighten and gleam with an expression of fiendish malice; he approached me so closely that his hot breath fell full upon my cheek, his eyes glaring into mine like those of a tiger when he scents blood; then, turning to the general, he replied,—

"No, monsieur le general. This is the young naval officer who conveyed the despatches to Count Lorenzo di Paoli, and who, it is believed, stole the 'Mouette' on the night when the count's chateau was attacked; afterwards leading the 'Vigilant' into an ambush whereby she was captured."

"Are you certain?" inquired the general.

"Quite certain," replied the Corsican. "It was I who watched him land from the frigate, and afterwards discovered his lurking-place in the woodman's hut. And I also saw him frequently, after his escape from the troops, in the chateau of Count Lorenzo."

"That is sufficient," replied the general. Then, turning to me, he remarked sarcastically,—

"If you have anything to say in refutation of this man's statement, say it. But no, I see you have not. It is well, sir. You have chosen to enter this town in disguise and with a false story; the inference is plain. You are a spy; and as such you will be shot at daybreak to- morrow morning."

"Take him away," he continued, turning to Lieutenant Saint Croix; "confine him securely in the tower; and you, Guiseppe, take charge of him; I can spare none of my own men to play the part of gaoler. And remember, I shall hold you responsible for his safety!"

"I will answer for it with my own life," exultingly exclaimed the scoundrel, as he roughly seized me by the collar and led me away.

As we passed through the guard-room, Lieutenant Saint Croix summoned a file of soldiers, who promptly placed themselves one on each side of me; and in this humiliating manner I was conducted to the prison from which, in a few short hours, I was to go to my grave.

On leaving the guard-room, we crossed the small open court, and passed under the archway into the passage which led through to the barrack- yard.

Midway through the passage we came to a halt before a low door of solid oak, which was opened with the aid of a ponderous key, when a steep narrow stairway of stone lay before us. It wound upwards, corkscrew fashion, in the thickness of the wall, and, ascending it, we eventually reached a stone landing or short passage, very dimly lighted by two narrow unglazed windows, one at each end. There were two doors on each side of this passage, one of which the young officer unlocked and flung open, motioning me to enter. I did so, seeing that I had no choice in the matter; the door slammed heavily to, the massive bolts grated harshly back into their places, and I was alone.

It was so dark that, until my eyes became accustomed to the gloom, I could see nothing except a narrow opening in the wall, far above my head, which admitted all the light and air the architect had considered necessary for the miserable occupants of the dungeon.

I shut my eyes, and clasped my hands tightly over them, keeping them so for about five minutes; and when I opened them again, I was able to see with tolerable distinctness.

I then found that I had been thrust into a chamber about ten feet square and as many feet high, the walls of which were of massive masonry. A stone bench ran along one side of the wall, and that was all; furniture of any kind there was absolutely none. The aperture in the wall, which I have already mentioned, was close up under the stone ceiling of the cell, and measured about two feet long and six inches wide. So thick was the wall in which this was pierced, that standing back against the opposite wall I was unable to see the sky out through it. I felt all round the walls of my prison. They were perfectly smooth, and slimy with the accumulated damp of centuries. I then examined the door. It was of oak or some other hard wood, and evidently very thick, from the dead sound which my knuckles made when I rapped upon it. It was quite useless, then, to think of escape. So strong, indeed, was the place, that they had not thought it worth while to search me, being no doubt convinced that it would be impossible for me to break out with any tools or weapons I might happen to have in my possession. I had a stout knife in my pocket; but five minutes' work with it on the door satisfied me that it would be a labour of days, instead of the few hours which remained to me, to carve my way out with such an instrument.

Nothing then remained but to devote those few remaining hours to the work of preparation for my inevitable fate.

I flung myself down upon the rough stone bench, and let my thoughts wander far away to my dear old Hampshire home, and to the loved ones there whose hearts the vague tidings of my uncertain fate would go far to break. They would of course hear, through Captain Hood, of the mad venture upon which I had embarked; and would doubtless also be furnished with full details of my doings up to the moment when I disappeared from Bob's lingering gaze into the darkness of the murky night. And from that moment all further trace of me would be lost, unless indeed Bastia should eventually fall into the hands of the British; and even then it was improbable that, in the general bustle and excitement, anyone would remember to make inquiries about me. And so the years would drag slowly on; and while my body lay mouldering in an obscure and unmarked grave, those loved ones would be hoping against hope for tidings of me, until, under the long-continued and cruel strain, their hearts would slowly but surely break.

The subject was of too painful a character to be longer dwelt upon; and I turned from it to seek in my hour of need the support and consolation of religion. I recalled to mind some of those sublime passages, so lavishly scattered through the pages of the "Book of Books," each solemn word breathing comfort, hope, and promise; but the words chased each other idly through my throbbing brain, which refused to grasp their meaning; turning aside instead to interest itself in all manner of idle fancies. Then I strove to quell the tumult of my mind by earnest prayer; but it was of no use; words came readily enough to my dry and fevered lips; but they were words only, not aspirations of the soul. And so at length I had to abandon my useless efforts and allow my thoughts to be dragged away a helpless prey to every mad fancy born of my whirling brain. And all the while I was conscious that the sands in the hour-glass of my life were fast running out, and that the precious moments which were passing so swiftly away bore with them the possibilities of an eternity of bliss or an eternity of woe for me beyond the great Boundary Line which I was so soon to cross.

And thus the hours sped swiftly on, until a thin shaft of golden light streamed in through the narrow opening above my head, and, striking on the opposite wall, gleamed there for a few minutes in radiant and dazzling beauty, passing obliquely upward the while until it grew narrower and more narrow, dwindled down to the thinness of a thread, and finally vanished. I had witnessed the last gleam of earthly sunlight I was ever to see.

Darkness now rapidly gathered round me; and in a short time it was impossible for me to distinguish anything but the faint outline of the loophole in the wall above me.

As night descended upon the earth, a soft and gentle breeze sprang up, which, entering through the loophole, cooled my fevered blood and permitted me so far to regain control of myself that I once more became cognisant of outward sounds, of which I seemed to have lost all consciousness from the moment I had been thrust into that horrible dungeon. There was the roar of the artillery, the fainter boom of our own guns, the occasional rattle of vehicles along the street, the rumble of heavy ammunition waggons, the frequent clatter of horses' feet; and, now and then, the sound of a human voice. Gradually most of these sounds lulled, and became more infrequent, until finally they died away altogether; and long intervals of perfect silence ensued, broken only by the occasional crashing discharge of a single gun. And so I knew that night had fallen upon the earth without as well as upon the unhappy prisoner within.

After the lapse of some hours, as it seemed to me, I became conscious of a faint sound outside my prison-door; a key rattled in the lock, the bolts jarred back; the door was flung open; a stream of light flooded the cell, blinding me for the moment; and when my eyesight returned Guiseppe the Corsican was standing in the chamber, in the act of closing the door carefully behind him.

Placing upon the floor the small hand-lamp which he carried, he flung himself carelessly down on the stone bench; and, with an evil smile hovering about his lips, began to jeer at my unfortunate situation.

"Well, signor Englishman," he commenced, "how like you your new lodging? It is scarcely so large, and I fear it is not as elegantly furnished, as Francesca Paoli's silken chamber, is it? But never mind, my friend; your stay here is but short; and I daresay you can contrive to put up with a little temporary inconvenience in the meantime, can you not?"

"Are you here to make sport of my misfortunes?" I asked.

"Certainly," he replied; "what other purpose do you suppose I could have in visiting you here in the dead of night? Perhaps you thought I had come to set you free and help you to rejoin your accursed countrymen? No! I hate you all—you Englishmen—and you especially; and I could not deny myself the pleasure of looking in upon you to see how you face the approach of a disgraceful death. I am rejoiced to see how pale and haggard you look. It has told upon you, as it must necessarily tell upon all cowards. Let me note carefully how you look, now; so that I may compare it with your appearance a few hours hence, when you face the muskets of your executioners. Pah! why you are quailing already, you white-livered poltroon; what will it be in the morning?"

I had resolved the moment I perceived the villain's object, that nothing he might say or do should wring any outward manifestation from me. But as he went on, the apathy which had before possessed me gave way under the influence of his taunts; my indignation was gradually aroused until my blood boiled; and now, rising suddenly, I sprang upon him with the bound of a tiger, clutching his sinewy neck with both hands and pressing my thumbs with all my strength into his throat.

The ruffian was so completely taken by surprise by the suddenness and violence of this unexpected attack that he went down unresistingly before me, the back of his head striking violently upon the hard stone bench upon which he had been seated.

I was now fully roused; I felt possessed of the strength and fury of a demon; and, still retaining my vice-like grasp upon his throat, I raised his head again and again and again, only to dash it with intensified violence against the stones each time. The miserable wretch grasped at the knife in his belt and drew it out; but before he had time to use it I had dashed his head yet once more against the stones, with such superhuman strength and violence that a dull crushing sound accompanied the blow, the man uttered a deep groan, and the knife fell clinking on the floor from his nerveless hand. Relaxing my grasp upon his throat, I raised the lamp and allowed its rays to fall upon my victim's face. It was of a livid purple hue. The tongue, hanging out of the mouth, was bitten nearly through; his whiskers were wet with blood, which oozed in two thin streams from his throat where I had grasped it; and a slowly widening pool of blood was steadily spreading over the bench beneath his head.

The first thought which presented itself was, "Is he dead, or merely stunned?" The next—which flashed into my brain with the rapidity of lightning—was, that there lay my gaoler, the man who stood between me and liberty, helpless before me; and the chance of escape was once more in my hands.

I rolled the senseless body off the bench on to the floor. It fell, and lay there motionless; the muscles all relaxed, and the same livid hue upon the face.

Hastily unrolling the crimson sash which encircled his waist, I cut it into convenient lengths; and, rolling the body over face downwards, quickly and with all the dexterity of a seaman secured the arms together at the wrists, and the feet at the ankles; after which I lashed the heels and hands close together, rolled the body back as far as it would come, and thrust into the mouth, as a gag, the long haft of his murderous sheath-knife, securing it in position by means of the handkerchief which he wore round his throat.

I next possessed myself of the keys, of which there were two; one, of course, for the cell-door, and the other, doubtless, for the door at the foot of the stairs.

I had no difficulty in fitting the right key to the cell-door; and as soon as I had done so I blew out the lamp, and placed it outside the cell, closed and locked the door, and, removing my boots, stealthily crept down the winding staircase.

The door at the bottom was open; and as it folded inwards I noiselessly adjusted the key in the lock before venturing outside. I then stepped through the doorway; drew the door quietly to, and, with the utmost precaution, turned the key in the lock, managing to do so with very little noise.

As I removed the key, and stood back in the recess to deliberate upon my next steps, I became conscious of the sound of running water; and looking along the passage into the barrack-yard, and the courtyard at the back of the tower, I saw, by the faint light of one or two lamps, that the ground was flooded, and that it was raining heavily. So much the better; there would be fewer people about, and my chances of escape would thereby be all the greater.

The first question was, how to get beyond the boundaries of the barracks. The front or barrack-yard was bounded on three sides by lofty buildings and on the fourth by a high wall, with gates in it, it is true, but gates which would be closed and locked at that hour of the night. The difficulties of escape by way of the front were great, and might very possibly prove insurmountable; I therefore determined to make my first attempt at the back.

Keeping close within the deepest part of the shadow, I moved cautiously in the direction of the guard-room; and had just gained the courtyard when I heard footsteps entering the passage behind me. I darted out from under the archway, and hastily concealed myself behind one of the massive buttresses which supported the back wall of the building. Peering cautiously out from my hiding-place, I saw the individual, whoever he was, emerge from the archway, cross the yard, and enter the guard-room.

Still crouching close behind the buttress, I looked carefully round to note the possibilities of escape which presented themselves in the rear of the tower. The yard, like the one in front, was enclosed by a wall, but it was only about twelve feet high. On the other side of this wall, looming indistinctly up against the murky sky, were some trees, one or two of which appeared to be near enough to enable me to spring into their branches, could I but reach the top of the wall.

At first I could see no way of doing this. But a little closer scrutiny, and the exercise of a little consideration, at length suggested a means of escape. A sort of wing, projecting out from the main building of the old castle, formed one boundary of the courtyard, and joined the wall, the top of which I desired to reach; and I suddenly remembered the rough, uneven, and time-worn appearance of the masonry of this building which had attracted my attention in the morning. I thought that perhaps the masonry might be rough and uneven enough to permit of my climbing the face of it; and, as it seemed to be the only road of escape, I resolved to try it.

I accordingly made my way to the point which I had resolved to attack, and set about the attempt. But I was unable to manage it. I found I required something more than the slight hold I was able to obtain with my hands, while working my way upward with my feet; and after a trial which must have lasted quite an hour I found myself just where I had started; namely, on the pavement of the courtyard.

Trembling with my violent exertions, and weak from my long fast (I had neither eaten nor drank since breakfast the previous morning), I was almost on the point of despairing, when a bright idea occurred to me. I would attempt my climb at the point where the wing jutted out from the main wall of the building, the two walls forming an angle.

A stream of water was pouring down the wall from somewhere off the roof; and I took a hearty draught from this, which greatly refreshed me. I then renewed my attempt; and found to my great satisfaction that, though the labour was still severe, I was able to make slow but steady progress by bracing myself into the angle between the two walls with my arms and knees.

In this way I gradually worked my way up the wall, until I arrived at a point where a bold moulding—called, I believe, a string-course—ran horizontally along the wall. I continued my climb until my feet rested upon this moulding, which constituted quite a firm foot-hold compared with what I had hitherto been able to obtain.

I was now about five-and-twenty feet from the ground; and had it been light I should have been able to see over the wall; but as it was I could distinguish nothing but the indistinct masses of the trees, and, among them, a few greyish objects which looked to me like tomb-stones.

The next thing was to pass along the face of the wing-wall to the point where it joined the boundary-wall of the courtyard; and the sooner this journey was accomplished the better; for the muscles of my hands were beginning to feel cramped and nerveless from the extraordinary strain which had been put upon them. I accordingly set out on my dangerous way; and, with the aid of the string-course, got on better than I expected; but my strength was going so rapidly that, by the time I had accomplished about a quarter of the distance, it was all I could do to support myself. I had no choice, however, but still to push on; and I persevered a short time longer; when, just as I felt that I was incapable of further effort, when my nerveless fingers were actually relaxing their hold upon the slight irregularities in the surface of the wall, and I felt that I must go helplessly crashing down again to the ground, I distinguished, within a yard of me, on my right, a dark cavity in the face of the wall; and the remembrance at once flashed upon me that I had noticed when crossing the yard in the morning, without paying any attention to it at the moment, a large window in this part of the wall. One more feeble but despairing effort enabled me to reach the opening; and with a frame quivering with exhaustion, and an incoherent thanksgiving upon my lips, I flung my body forward, and lay, breathless and half-fainting, partly in and partly out of the unglazed window.

After recovering myself a little, I raised myself into a somewhat more secure and comfortable position, and took a good look round me.

It was still as dark as ever—a circumstance at which I greatly rejoiced, since it would still take a considerable amount of time to make good my escape—but my eyes had by this time become so accustomed to the darkness that I was able to discern with some degree of clearness such objects as happened to be in my immediate vicinity; and the first thing I noticed was that there was another window at no great distance from me, but it was pierced in the end wall of the building, and consequently overlooked the piece of ground which I took to be a cemetery. The next thing which attracted my attention was a sort of ledge about a foot wide on the inner side of the wall, which had apparently, at some time or other in the history of the building, supported a floor. This ledge seemed to offer an easy and safe approach to the other window; and I at once scrambled in through the opening wherein I was perched, and, lowering myself cautiously down on the inside, soon had the satisfaction of finding my feet firmly planted on the ledge. Somewhat restored in strength, and my nerves steadied by my short rest, I set forward once more; and at length, without much difficulty, gained the other window.

Peering anxiously out through it, to see what facilities might exist for enabling me to effect a descent, I was overjoyed to find that the time- worn wall was covered with a thick growth of ivy. A descent by means of this was, after my perilous climb and passage along the face of the wall, a mere trifle; and in a couple of minutes more I was standing, safe and sound, in the burial-ground, and outside the boundaries of my prison. I wasted no time in looking about me; but rapidly crossing the enclosure, and stumbling over the graves as I went, I soon reached a high railing, which was easily surmounted, when I found myself in a dark and lonely road, bounded on one side by a wall and on the other by a steep descent thickly planted with trees.

Pausing here for a moment, I rapidly recalled to mind the route by which I had arrived at the barracks on the previous day, and was by this means enabled to decide upon the direction which I ought to take in order to reach the harbour. This point settled, I stepped quickly out; and after two or three turns and windings, found myself in a street which I remembered passing through before.

The rain was still pouring down in torrents, and not a soul was to be seen in any direction, nor a sound heard; and if any one had seen me flitting noiselessly along the silent and deserted street, I should assuredly have been taken for a washed-out ghost, for I had left my boots behind, and my feet gave only a faint, scarcely audible, pit-pat on the flooded causeway.

Half an hour of sharp walking brought me down to the harbour; and I at once proceeded to the slipway where I had moored the boat on the previous night. The previous night? Ay; it was only some twenty-four hours since I had entered Bastia; but it seemed as though I had been there at least a month.

The boat was still there, with several others; and as my own safety was just then of more importance to me than any one else's convenience, I did not hesitate, on finding a much smaller and lighter boat among them, to help myself to her.

Casting the little craft adrift, I shipped the oars and paddled leisurely down the harbour until I approached the pierheads, when, noiselessly laying in my oars, I shipped one of them in the notch at the stern; and, sheering close in under the walls of the pier from which I had been hailed on the previous night, I sculled gently out to the open sea. I almost held my breath until I had gone far enough to lose sight of the pier altogether in the darkness, when I once more shipped my oars and pulled steadily out toward a line of twinkling lights which indicated the position of the fleet.

The dawn was just breaking, grey, cheerless, and chill, as I reached the cutter and stepped in on deck over her low bulwarks, wet to the skin, nerveless from exhaustion and hunger, and with my feet, elbows, and knees lacerated and bleeding from my battle with the rough stone walls of my prison.



CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

LE NARCISSE.

My first act on regaining the cutter was to rouse Bob and the boy who officiated as cook on board the "Mouette;" with the object of obtaining from the former any news he might have to impart, and from the latter as substantial a breakfast as the resources of the cutter would permit.

I listened to Bob's story while engaged upon the highly necessary operation of cleansing my person and encasing it once more in "the uniform proper to my rank." Bobby had very little to tell me; and that little was by no means reassuring. It appeared that a despatch-boat had arrived from Malta on the previous day bringing letters for the fleet; and, among the rest, there had been a couple of epistles for me. Bob had gone on board the "Juno" for whatever letters there might be for the cutter's crew, and had been ordered by the skipper to request my presence on board. Thereupon master Bob had presented my note informing the skipper of my proposed expedition. Instead of expressing his gratification at my zeal, as Bobby had fully expected he would, it appeared that the skipper had exhibited a very considerable amount of irritation; finally ordering friend Robert somewhat peremptorily back to the cutter, with instructions to send me without fail on board the "Juno" immediately on my return, if (which the skipper seemed to consider highly improbable) I ever succeeded in returning at all.

By the time that Summers had brought his story to a close I was ready for the breakfast which meantime had been preparing; and as it was still much too early to present myself before Captain Hood (who seldom appeared before eight bells) I sat down to the meal, with—it must be confessed—a somewhat diminished appetite; hastily skimming through my letters as I munched away at the weevily biscuits. There were two; one from my dear old dad, and one from Sir Peregrine. There was nothing of very special interest in either; my father's epistle dealing chiefly with a few items of home gossip, such as that farmer Giles of the Glebe had met with an accident in the hunting-field, his colt falling with him and breaking the worthy farmer's leg—doctor pronounced it a compound fracture; that the wife of Lightfoot, the gamekeeper, had presented her husband with twins once more—two girls this time; mother and twins doing well; that Old Jane Martin had been laid up all the winter with rheumatism, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera; and that finally, all at home were enjoying excellent health, and would be glad if I could find time to write to them a little more frequently. My great-uncle, Sir Peregrine, was not nearly so voluminous in his correspondence as my father—sailors are not as a rule very good correspondents—what he had to say was said in as few words as possible. Two pages of note-paper sufficed the worthy admiral to inform me that he had been intensely gratified at the terms in which my name had been mentioned in connexion with the storming of the Convention Redoubt, and that he was writing per same mail to "his friend Hood" (the admiral, not the captain), asking him to give me as many opportunities as he could of distinguishing myself—"or of getting knocked on the head," thought I; and that if I needed any cash my drafts upon him would be duly honoured. Also, that he had not been out much during the winter, his old enemy the gout having attacked him so pertinaciously that he had been confined to the house for weeks at a time, moored "stem and stern" before the library fire, like a prison-hulk in Portsmouth Harbour!

My letters and my breakfast were got through in about the same time; and as Bob and I emerged from our tiny cabin on to the cutter's narrow deck the ship's bells were musically chiming out the eight strokes which proclaimed the end of one watch and the commencement of another. The skipper would, I knew, be stirring by this time, so I jumped into the dinghy, and proceeded on board the frigate.

As I stepped in on the "Juno's" deck, Captain Hood made his appearance at the cabin-door. Touching my hat, I went up and reported myself.

"Good morning, Mr Chester," observed he affably; "I am very glad to see you have come safely out of your escapade. But what do you mean, sir," (assuming a tone of severity), "by presuming to undertake such an expedition without asking and obtaining permission? It is a manifest breach of discipline, and, as such, must be punished. I placed you in charge of the cutter as a kind of promotion, and by way of reward for your exemplary conduct generally. Now I shall be compelled to deprive you of your command. You will return forthwith to your duty on board the frigate, sir."

"Ay, ay, sir," I responded, considerably crestfallen. "I am extremely sorry to have incurred your displeasure, sir, I am sure. I would have asked permission, sir, but I was afraid that, after poor Mr Tupper's death, it would be refused."

"Very well, Mr Chester. I have no doubt you meant well, and therefore I have been lenient in the punishment which your breach of discipline demanded. You have been reprimanded on the quarter-deck, sir, and so we will say nothing more about it. Only I must impress upon you the necessity of being careful to avoid a repetition of the offence. Now come into the cabin and have some breakfast with me, and you can then tell us how you fared among the Frenchmen. If you have not already breakfasted, Mr Annesley," (to the first lieutenant, who at this moment approached), "I shall be glad to have the pleasure of your company."

So saying, the skipper turned on his heel, and led the way into the cabin, where we found the table well provided with a variety of good things highly provocative of appetite in a midshipman, even though he might have partaken of one breakfast already within an hour.

As soon as we had seated ourselves, and were supplied from the stock of delicacies before us,—

"Now," said the skipper, "overhaul your log, Mr Chester, and let us hear how you managed to conduct your difficult enterprise. That young scamp, Summers, told me all about your gallant capture," (with just the faintest possible ironical emphasis on the word gallant) "of the unfortunate fishermen, so you may as well commence at the point where you left the cutter in their boat."

In obedience to this command I at once proceeded with my story, giving a detailed account of everything that had happened from the time of leaving the cutter to the moment of my return.

My auditors evinced the greatest interest in my narration, and were mightily tickled when I described the manner in which I had been relieved of my fish by the condescending cook and the friendly corporal. Their interest increased when I described my imprisonment in and the mode of escape from my dungeon; and when I had finished they both congratulated me very heartily upon what Captain Hood called "the resolution and courage" which I had exhibited. "It was a remarkably narrow squeak, Mr Chester," remarked the skipper, "and I hope it will be a warning to you not to unnecessarily expose yourself to danger for the future. When duty calls it is of course quite another thing; and I am perfectly willing to give you credit for a desire in the present instance to perform a very important service. I have already reprimanded you for the breach of discipline which you committed in undertaking this expedition without first obtaining leave; let me now express my satisfaction with the way in which—apart from that—you have conducted yourself. You have succeeded in obtaining information which, I believe, will be of great value to the admiral, and I will endeavour so to represent your conduct to him as that he shall view it in a favourable light. Now, if you have finished breakfast, you had better go on board the cutter and transfer your chest and hammock to the frigate, and by-and-by I will take you on board the flag-ship and introduce you to the admiral, when you can make your report."

Accepting this as a hint to be off about my business, I rose, and making my bow, left the cabin.

On reaching the deck I found that the whole of the inmates of the midshipmen's berth, already apprised by the loquacious Bob of my escapade, were anxiously awaiting my reappearance, to learn all particulars, including the result of my private interview with the skipper. Briefly informing them, however, that I had been ordered to rejoin the frigate, and postponing all further information until a more convenient season, I hurried down over the side, and stepping into the cockleshell of a dinghy pulled on board the "Mouette," where master Bob received my narration with a show of sympathy which thinly veiled his exultation at being left in sole command of the cutter.

Somehow I did not greatly regret the change. I was beginning to tire of the cramped accommodation on board the "Mouette;" and although I had been formally reprimanded for my "breach of discipline" I was acute enough to see that my conduct had, after all, made a favourable impression upon the skipper, and that I had, on the whole, risen, rather than fallen, in his estimation.

Hurriedly bundling my few belongings together and stowing them away in the boat, I shook hands with Bob, and was soon once more on board the "Juno."

I had barely time to trim myself up a bit, when a message was brought me to the effect that the skipper's gig was alongside, and only waited my presence on board to shove off for the admiral's ship.

The "Victory" was lying at no great distance from us, and we were soon alongside.

I followed the skipper up the side-ladder, and found myself in the presence of the admiral, who was taking a constitutional up and down the quarter-deck in company with Sir Hyde Parker and Vice-Admiral Hotham from the "Britannia."

Captain Hood immediately joined company (I remaining discreetly in the background, in accordance with previous instructions), and in the course of a minute or two the party, no doubt in consequence of a suggestion from the skipper, retired to the cabin.

In about twenty minutes afterwards I was sent for.

I entered the cabin with, I must confess, some slight degree of trepidation; for the admiral was a very queer sort of man in some respects, and one never knew in what light he would be likely to view such an exploit as mine. I had known of his having disrated more than one luckless mid for a far less heinous offence than so serious a breach of discipline as that of which I had been guilty; and disrating was the one thing which presented itself to me as more objectionable than anything else in the shape of punishment—except flogging; but I built my hopes upon the skipper's good offices; and the result showed that I had no grounds for fear.

On entering, I was invited to take a chair which Lord Hood pointed out, and then, waiting until the cabin-door was shut, he rested his elbows on the table, and supporting his chin upon his hands, looked across at me and said—

"Your captain informs me, young gentleman, that, understanding I was anxious to obtain information respecting the condition of the enemy in Bastia, you voluntarily undertook a most hazardous journey thither, and were enabled, during your stay in the town, to make observations of considerable value. I should like to hear from your own lips a detailed narrative of the adventure."

Thus commanded, I once more told my story, Lord Hood interrupting me from time to time to jot down memoranda in his note-book. When I had concluded my narration the admiral thanked me heartily for the "very important service" which I had rendered, and I was also complimented by my audience upon "the skill and intrepidity" with which I had carried out the reconnoissance. Taking these last remarks as a polite intimation that the interview was at an end, I bowed and withdrew. A few minutes afterwards the admiral's boat was ordered, and as soon as she was manned, Lord Hood, Sir Hyde Parker, and the skipper got into her, and pulled away for the British lines on shore—Captain Hood directing me, as he passed down the side, to take his gig back to the frigate.

On the following day a flag of truce was sent into the town negotiations were opened, and on the 22nd of May, 1794, the garrison capitulated on very favourable terms to themselves.

From this date I find nothing in my diary worthy of remark until we come to the reduction of Calvi on the 10th of August following. I was at the time recovering from an attack of low fever, and had been off duty for some four or five weeks.

On the evening of the capture I was walking slowly up and down the poop, when Captain Hood came up the poop-ladder and very kindly inquired after my health. I replied that I was getting rapidly stronger, and should be very glad when the doctor would allow me to return to duty.

"Ah! yes," said he, "I daresay you will. Very irksome to be idling about the decks all day. I should think change of air would do you good."

"I believe it would, sir," I replied, thinking from his manner of speaking that he had a proposal of some sort to make.

"Yes, no doubt about it," returned the skipper. "And you would like it? Then be so kind as to find Mr Malcolm," (the surgeon), "and ask him to step into my cabin for a moment, if he is disengaged."

Certain now that there was something in the wind, I lost no time in hunting up the worthy medico and delivering the skipper's message, which I supplemented by a request upon my own account, that if any proposal were made to send me away upon another expedition, the doctor would kindly throw no difficulties in the way.

To which the canny Scotchman replied,—

"Before makin' any sic a promise, I'll just bide a wee and speir a few particulars anent the nature o' the said expedition, laddie. If it's o' a nature to prove benefecial to your health—why then I'm no saying but what I may be induced to do what I can to forward your views; but no' itherwise."

I watched him into the cabin, and then "stood off and on" outside upon the quarter-deck, awaiting his reappearance.

I had not long to wait. In less than five minutes he came out upon the quarter-deck, and seeing me, beckoned me to approach.

"It's a' right, laddie," said he, "just gang ben til him,"—pointing to the cabin—"and tak' your instructions. It's just the vera thing I wad hae prescribed for you had it been possible to hae had the prescription mad' up. But ye'll no gang oot o' the ship until ye hae been to me for a wee drappie pheesic ye maun tak' along wi' ye, d'ye mind?"

I promised the kind-hearted old fellow I would be sure to do his bidding and then joyously entered the cabin.

"Sit down, Mr Chester," said the skipper, when I made my appearance. I took the chair which he had indicated, and he then proceeded,—

"The admiral has some important despatches to send away, which he is anxious should reach England as speedily as possible. The 'Vigilant' will take them hence to Gibraltar, and the admiral there will be requested to despatch a frigate with them for the rest of the journey, as Lord Hood thinks the 'Vigilant' scarcely fit to cross the Bay of Biscay. The only question has been who to send with them, as there is still a great deal to be done before the fleet can leave the island, and there are no officers to spare. Lord Hood mentioned the matter to me, and I immediately thought of you. You will have nothing to do but simply navigate the craft to Gibraltar, which, I learn, you are quite able to do; and it will be a pleasant change for you—beneficial, too, Malcolm says. There is only one thing I feel called upon to suggest to you, and that is—caution. Recollect that you are a despatch-boat, not a cruiser; and let nothing which you can possibly avoid tempt you to delay the delivery of the despatches or endanger their safety. You are very young for such a trust, I know; but you seem to have as much tact and discretion as a good many of your seniors, and I see no reason why you should not execute the service satisfactorily. At all events I have answered for you, and I trust you will do all you can to justify my good opinion of you. You had better shift your traps over to the 'Vigilant' at once, and then proceed on board the admiral's ship for the despatches and your instructions, as he is anxious for you to sail at once."

I thanked the skipper heartily both for the thoughtfulness and consideration which had procured for me the change of air which seemed needed for my complete recovery, and also for the confidence in me which such a commission argued; and I promised him most earnestly that the safe delivery of the despatches should be my paramount care.

"That's right, Mr Chester," said he, as I rose to leave the cabin. "Before I say good-bye, I may as well mention that I have been greatly pleased with your conduct ever since you first joined the ship. I consider you a most promising young officer; you have conducted yourself extremely well on more than one trying occasion, and I have procured this little commission for you in the hope that it will afford you still another opportunity of acquiring credit and advancing your interests. I wish you a quick and prosperous passage, and shall be glad to see your safe return. And as long as you continue to conduct yourself well, you may count upon me as a friend, willing to do all that is possible to aid you. Now—good-bye! and take care of yourself."

So saying, he shook hands heartily with me, and then, flinging himself back once more in his chair, he turned to a number of papers which littered his table; while I made my way out upon deck, scarcely knowing whether I stood upon my head or my heels, so overjoyed was I at the prospect of the trip.

In less than an hour afterwards I was on board the "Vigilant," with the despatch-box safely stowed away in the most secret hiding-place I could find, and my instructions in my breast-pocket.

The night was lovely, not the faintest breath of air ruffled the surface of the glassy waters, in whose dark mysterious depths glittered a perfect reflection of every star which beamed in the blue-black vault overhead. So perfect was the stillness of nature that we could hear, with the utmost distinctness, the songs of the men on board the different ships, and even the talking and laughing on board those in our more immediate vicinity; and when we rigged out our sweeps to sweep the craft into the offing, where I hoped we might the sooner catch a breeze, their roll and rattle seemed almost unbearably loud in contrast with the quiet which prevailed around us.

Having a good strong crew on board, I kept them at the sweeps for a couple of hours, by which time we had gained an offing of about eight miles, when I ordered the sweeps to be laid in and the canvas to be set. Shortly afterwards the moon rose, and, bringing up a nice little southerly breeze with her, we were soon slipping through the water, close-hauled on the port tack, and laying well up on our course for old Gib.

The skipper had been considerate enough to send with me another midshipman, a quiet, steady, and gentlemanly lad named Harold Smellie, a year younger than myself, and a boatswain's mate named Tom Hardy, a very superior and well-educated man for his position, a prime seaman, and thoroughly reliable in every way. These two I put in charge of the watches, and then, having seen that everything was satisfactory on deck and in the look of the weather, I went below and tumbled into my hammock, leaving of course the stereotyped charge to be called in the event of anything "turning up" out of the usual way.

On awaking next morning, I found that the breeze had freshened very considerably during the night, so much so indeed that when I went on deck the "Vigilant" was tearing through it with her lee-rail under, although the lateens were reefed to their utmost capacity. There was a very awkward jump of a sea on already, and it was fast increasing; but the light beamy little craft, although she tossed the spray in blinding showers from her weather-bow right aft and out over her lee quarter, never shipped a drop of green water, and I was highly delighted at her excellent sea-going qualities. I thought, however, that she would take the seas much more easily if she were relieved of the strain and leverage aloft of her long heavy swaying yards; I therefore had the lateens taken in and the lugs substituted for them, and was rewarded for my trouble by finding my anticipations amply realised.

The wind continued to increase all through the morning, and by noon it was blowing quite a fresh gale, with a correspondingly heavy sea.

At five p.m. the lookout reported a sail about two points on our weather-bow.

"What do you make her out to be?" demanded I.

"She looks large enough for a frigate," replied the man; "but I shall have a better sight of her in a few minutes, sir; she is steering this way."

"I say, Chester, suppose it's a frigate from Gibraltar with despatches for the admiral; what will you do?" exclaimed young Smellie, as we stood together by the weather-bulwarks, hanging on to the main-rigging.

"There is only one thing that we can do, and that is, exchange despatches, and each return as quickly as possible to our respective starting-points. It will be a great bore if we are obliged to cut short our cruise; but our despatches are urgent, and our duty plainly is to forward them with all possible speed; and as this vessel, if she prove to be a frigate, will almost certainly be a much faster craft than ourselves, we shall be in duty bound to put our despatch-box on board of her."

"How will you get them on board?" inquired my companion. "It would be a very ticklish business to launch a boat in this sea."

"We must get near enough, if possible, to effect the exchange without the aid of a boat," returned I. "With care on both sides I think it might be safely managed. What does the stranger look like by this time?" I continued to the lookout.

"Seems to me that he has a very Frenchified look about him, sir," replied he.

"Phew! I hope not," said I to Smellie. "Lend me your glass a moment, will you? Mine is down below. I think I'll take a trip aloft and see what I can make out about him."

I accordingly went aloft to the fore-yard, and sitting astride it, close to the parrals, took as good a look at the fast-approaching craft as the swaying of the yard and the lively motion of the little "Vigilant" would permit.

I remained there for quite ten minutes, and by the end of that time felt perfectly satisfied as to her nationality. She was French, from her truck downwards, without a doubt.

This was an extremely awkward rencontre, and one which I scarcely expected. Indeed, our own frigates were at that time so thoroughly scouring the Mediterranean, particularly that portion of it lying between Gibraltar and Malta, that an enemy's ship was almost the last object we might expect to see.

"I'm afraid we're in a mess here," said I to Smellie, as I joined him aft, by the companion. "That fellow is a Frenchman, and he has the weather-gage, to say nothing of his ability to sail round and round us in this weather, if we took to our heels. Now, the question is, how can we hoodwink him and slip through his fingers?"

"Perhaps we could personate some other craft of about our size and rig," suggested little Smellie doubtfully.

"Um! possibly. Let's get the French navy list, and just run through it. If there's anything at all like ourselves we shall soon find it."

My companion dived down below, and in less than a minute afterwards returned with the list and the French signal-book.

We turned it over together, and presently came upon a craft named the "Vidette," which seemed, from her description, to be almost a sister- ship to the "Vigilant." We accordingly determined to assume her name during the communications which would soon pass between us and the frigate. The French ensign was bent on, and we then turned up the "Vidette's" number, and bent these flags also on the halliards, after which we could do nothing but wait.