"
Maitre Nicolay looked at the sky.
"There is wind enough when we once get well beyond the town; but
unless we get a good start they will overtake us in boats. Is it a
state affair, Maitre Perrot? For I own to you I don't like running
my head against the state."
"I will tell you frankly, captain. I am the Marquis de Pignerolles.
This is my daughter. The king wants her to marry a man she does not
like, and I am running away with her, to save her from being shut
up in a convent till she agrees."
"And this one?" Maitre Nicolay said, pointing to Rupert.
"That is the gentleman whom both I and my daughter like better than
the king's choice."
"That is all right," Maitre Nicolay said. "There is no hanging
matter in that. But look, sir; if you should be late, and they come
up with us in boats, or warn the forts at the entrance, mind, we
cannot fight; you must send us all below, with your swords and
pistols, you see, and batten us down, so that we shan't be
responsible, else I could never show my face in a French port
again.
"Ah! Here come four of the men; yes, and two more after them. That
is good.
"Now," he said, when the men came up, "not a question, not a word.
There is money, but it has to be earned. Now set to work. Loosen
the sails, and get all ready for casting off."
In a quarter of an hour from the moment the party had reached the
Belle Jeanne eight men had arrived, and although these were but
half her crew, the captain, who had been throwing himself heart and
soul in the work, declared that he would wait for no more.
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