The shipwrecked midshipmen would probably have slept far into the next
day had not Francois appeared with their clothes, nicely brushed and
carefully mended, so that they were able to make a presentable
appearance in their own characters before their hostesses.
He had also brought them a cup of cafe-au-lait, informing them that
breakfast would be ready as soon as they were dressed in the
salle-a-manger.
They found an abundant meal spread out, as Francois had promised. The
old lady and her daughters welcomed them kindly--the latter with
wreathed smiles, the elder with a host of questions to which she did not
wait for a reply.
They were all three thorough Frenchwomen, talking, as Oliver observed,
"thirteen to the dozen."
Madame La Roche told them that she had been attending to the English
sailor, who, she hoped, would, under her care, be quite well in a day or
two. "I ought to warn you not to go out. People in these parts are not
well affected towards the English, and should it be discovered that I am
harbouring British officers I may get into trouble," she added.
The morning passed very pleasantly. The young ladies produced their
guitars, and sang with good voices several French airs. Rayner and
Oliver thought them charming girls, and had they not felt it was their
duty to get back to their ship as soon as possible, would gladly have
remained in their society for an indefinite period.
At last they begged leave to go down to see their men. They were guided
to their rooms by sounds of music and uproarious laughter. They found
Le Duc seated on a three-legged stool on the top of a table fiddling
away, while old Francois, three black women, Tom and Brown, were dancing
in the strangest possible fashion, whirling round and round, kicking up
their heels, and joining hands, while Jack lay on a bed at the farther
end of the room, looking as if he longed to get up and take a part in
the dance.
On seeing the strangers, Francois became as grave as a judge, and
hurrying up to them, observed, "I thought it as well, messieurs, just to
join in for one minute to set the young people going. The poor sailors
needed encouragement, and I like to make people happy."
"You succeeded well, Monsieur Francois," remarked Rayner. "I will not
interrupt them, but I have a few words to speak to my men."
He then told Tom and Brown that it was the wish of Madame La Roche that
they should remain in the house, and not show themselves by any chance
to the people outside.
"In course, sir," said Brown. "We are as happy as princes here. They
feed us with as much as we can eat, and give us a right good welcome
too."
"Take care that you don't indulge too much," said Rayner. "We are
obliged to you, Le Duc, for finding us such good quarters, and we shall
be still more grateful if you will accompany us to the Spanish border.
I conclude you will then desire to return home."
"I am very much at home where I am," replied Le Duc, with a grin. "If
madame will accept my services, I shall be very happy to remain here.
Perhaps one of the young ladies will fall in love with me, and I should
prefer settling down to knocking about at sea."
Rayner and Oliver were horrified at the Frenchman's impudence.
"Pray do not be troubled at what I say, messieurs," said Le Duc, with
perfect coolness. "Such things have happened before, and one Frenchman
here is as good as another."
They saw that it would not do to discuss the matter with the seaman,
who, it was evident, from the dishes and glasses standing on the table
by the window, had been making himself merry with his companions.
The afternoon was spent very much as the morning had been. The young
ladies possessed no other accomplishment than that of playing the guitar
and dancing. They read when they could get books, but these were mostly
French novels, certainly not of an improving character.
Rayner and Oliver could not help comparing them with Mary Crofton, and
the comparison was greatly to her advantage.
The next day, Francois, who had been out to market returned with a
troubled countenance. He hurried in to his mistress, who soon
afterwards came into the room where her daughters and the young officers
were seated.
"I am sorry to say that the authorities have heard of your being in the
neighbourhood, and have sent the gendarmes to search for you!" she
exclaimed, in an anxious tone. "I did not wish to drive you away, and
am willing to try and conceal you. At present, no one knows you are in
the house. You may remain in a loft between the ceiling of this room
and the roof, where you are not likely to be found; but the place is
low, and will, I fear, be hot in the daytime, and far from pleasant.
Francois might manage to conduct you to a hut in the woods at no great
distance from this, to which we could send you food; but there is the
risk of the person who goes being seen, and your retreat being
discovered."
"We are very sorry to cause you so much trouble, madame," said Rayner.
"It will, I think, be safest to leave this place to-night, and to try
and make our way, as we intended, into Spanish territory."
"Ah! but the distance is long--fully twenty leagues," answered Madame La
Roche. "You would be recognised as strangers, and probably detained by
the mayor of a large village you must pass through."
"But we must take care and not pass through any village," said Rayner.
"We will try to make our way along bypaths. What we should be most
thankful for is a trustworthy guide. Perhaps our good friend Francois
here will find one for us."
"That I will try to do," said the old mulatto. "It is not, however,
very easy, as few of them know much of the country to the east."
"But how was it discovered that these English officers and their men
were in the country?" asked Mademoiselle Sophie, the eldest of the young
ladies, turning to Francois.
"It appears that yesterday morning there was found on the beach the dead
body of a seaman, who was supposed from his appearance and dress to be
English, while the marks of numerous feet were perceived on the sand,
some going to the west, others coming in this direction. Those going to
the west were traced until a party of French and black sailors were
discovered asleep in a wood. They stated that the vessel was French,
captured by an English man-of-war; that she had been driven by the
hurricane on the reef, and that it was their belief the English officers
and crew had escaped as well as themselves, but they could not tell what
had become of them. The mayor, on hearing this, had despatched a party
of gendarmes in search of the missing people. How soon they may be here
it is impossible to say."
"But they will not be so barbarous as to carry off to prison English
officers who come with a flag of truce, and had no hostile intentions!"
exclaimed Virginie.
"The authorities would be only too glad to get some Englishmen to
exhibit as prisoners," said Francois. "We must not trust them; and I
propose that we hide away the officers and men."
Just as Francois had finished giving this account, Le Duc ran into the
room.
"Oh, madame, oh messieurs!" he exclaimed, "I have seen those gendarmes
coming along the road towards the house; they will be here presently."
"Here, come this way, my friends!" cried Madame La Roche. "Francois,
run and get the ladder. There may be time for you all to mount up
before the gendarmes appear. Call the other sailors. The sick man is
strong enough to move, or some one must help him. Vite, vite!"
The old lady hurried about in a state of great agitation. Rayner and
Oliver had serious fears that she would betray herself.
Francois soon came with the ladder, which he placed in a dark corner of
a passage, and, ascending, opened a trapdoor, and urged the party to
mount without delay. Oliver went up first. Jack was able to get up
without assistance. Le Duc was unwilling to go until the old lady
seized him by the arm.
"Go up, my son, go up," she said. "You will not be worse off than the
rest."
He at length unwillingly obeyed.
As soon as Rayner got up, by Francois' directions he shut down the
trapdoor. There was just light sufficient, through a pane of glass in
the roof, to see that the loft extended over a considerable portion of
the building. Part only was covered with boards, on which, according to
the instructions given them, they laid down. Francois had charged them
on no account to move about, lest they should be heard by the people
below. The planks, however, were not placed very close together, and
after they had been there a minute or so, Rayner discovered a glimmer of
light coming through a broadish chink.
Putting his face near it, he perceived that the old lady and her
daughters had seated themselves at a table with their work before them,
endeavouring to look as unconcerned as possible.
He had not been in this position many minutes, when he heard some heavy
steps coming along the passage; they entered the room, and a gruff voice
demanded if any Englishmen had been, or still were, in the house.
The old lady started to her feet with an exclamation of well-feigned
astonishment.
"What can monsieur mean?" she asked. "Englishmen in my house! Where
can they have come from? My character is well known as a true patriot.
The enemies of France are my enemies. Pray explain yourself more
clearly."
On this the sergeant of gendarmes began to apologise in more courteous
language than he had at first used, explaining why he had been sent to
look for the Englishmen who, it had been ascertained, were in that part
of the country.
"Suppose you find them, what would you do with them?" asked Madame La
Roche.
"No doubt send them to prison. They are enemies of France, and it would
not be wise when we can catch them to allow such to wander at large and
commit mischief."
"Very true, very true, Monsieur Sergeant," said the old lady. "But that
does not excuse you for accusing me of harbouring them, and coming to my
house as if I were a traitress."
The sergeant, however, was evidently persuaded, notwithstanding Madame
La Roche's evasion, that the fugitives had been at the house, if they
were not there still, and he insisted, with due respect to her, that it
was his duty to make a thorough search.
"As you desire it, pray obey your orders," said Madame La Roche. "My
maitre d'hotel will show you round the house and outbuildings, and
wherever you wish to go. You must excuse me on account of my age, as
also my daughters from their youth and delicate nerves from accompanying
you."
The sergeant bowed, and said something with a laugh which Rayner did not
hear, and the old lady, calling Francois, bade him conduct the sergeant
and his gendarmes through the house. "And take care that he looks into
every corner, under the beds and in them, if he likes, so that he may be
thoroughly satisfied," she added.
"Oui, madame," answered Francois with perfect gravity. "Come along,
Monsieur Sergeant. If you do not find these Englishmen of whom you
speak, do not blame me."
Rayner heard them retire from the room. He now began to breathe more
freely, hoping, for the sake especially of Madame La Roche, that the
sergeant would be satisfied when they were not found in the house.
The ladies went on working and talking as if nothing were happening,
though their countenances betrayed their anxiety. The gendarmes had
been absent a sufficient time to make a thorough search through the
whole of the building when Rayner heard them coming back. Suddenly the
sergeant stopped, and asked, in a loud voice, "What is the object of
this ladder, my friend?"
"To reach the roof from the verandah, or to enable the inmates to
descend should the house be on fire," answered Francois, promptly.
"The roof everywhere overlaps the verandah," answered the sergeant, "and
no ladder is necessary to get out of these windows to the ground. It
appears to me of a length suited to reach the ceiling. Come, show me
any trapdoor through which I can reach the loft over the rooms. You
forgot, my friend, that part of the house."
"A trapdoor in the ceiling! What a strange thought of yours!" exclaimed
Francois. "However, perhaps you will find it, should one exist, that
you may be satisfied on that point, and let one of your men take the
ladder, for I am old, and it would fatigue me to carry it."
One of the gendarmes took up the ladder, and he could be heard knocking
at the ceiling in various directions. Still Rayner hoped that they
would not discover the dark corner, which Francois evidently had no
intention to show them.
"It must be found somewhere or other," he heard the sergeant say. "This
ladder is exactly suited to reach it."
At last he entered the room where the ladies were seated.
"Will madame have the goodness to tell me whereabouts the trapdoor is
that leads to the roof?" he asked.
"The trapdoor leading to the roof!" repeated Madame La Roche. "It is
not likely that an old woman, as I am, would have scrambled up there, or
my delicate daughters either. Surely, Monsieur Sergeant, you are
laughing at me."
The sergeant turned away, but presently one of the men exclaimed, "I
have found it! I have found it--here, up in this corner!"
Rayner heard the men ascending, the trap was lifted, but he and his
companions lay perfectly still, hoping that in the darkness they might
not be perceived.
But the gendarme, after waiting a few seconds to accustom his eyes to
the dim light, began groping about until he caught hold of Tom's leg.
Tom, dreadfully frightened, cried out in English, "Oh, dear; he's got
me!"
"Come down, messieurs, come down!" exclaimed the sergeant. "Oh, Madame
La Roche, you would have deceived me."
Rayner and his companions were compelled to descend. He truly felt more
for his kind hostess and her daughters than he did for himself. They
might be heavily fined, if not more severely punished. He and his
companions had only to look forward to a prison, from which they might
escape.
With the exception of Le Duc they were all soon collected in the room
below. He had managed by some means to escape detection. They were
allowed but a short time to take leave of Madame La Roche and her
daughters. The sergeant having received no orders respecting the
ladies, and satisfied at having secured his prisoners, seemed disposed
to allow the former to remain unmolested. They looked very melancholy,
however. The young ladies, as they shook hands, burst into tears. In
vain Madame La Roche begged that their guests might be allowed to
partake of some refreshment before commencing their journey. The
sergeant would not hear of it. He had caught the spies, and he intended
to keep them. If he allowed them to remain, some trick might be played,
and they might make their escape.
He at once, therefore, ordered his men to lead his prisoners to the
courtyard of the house.
"Hands off; I won't be manacled by a French jackanapes," cried Brown,
turning round as one of the men seized his arm. "We are five to seven,
mayn't we knock the fellows over, sir? We could do it easily enough,
and get off before they came to themselves again."
"I'll join you with all my heart," said Jack, "though I can't fight as
well as I could before my ribs were stove in."
"I'll tackle one of the fellows if I may take the smallest," said Tom,
though he looked rather pale at the thought of the impending struggle.
"What do you advise, Rayner?" asked Oliver.
"I can advise no violence," said Rayner. "We may succeed in mastering
the Frenchmen, but if we did, the kind old lady here and her daughters
would certainly suffer in consequence. We must submit with a good
grace, and we may possibly afterwards have an opportunity of making our
escape without fighting."
Though the Frenchmen did not understand what was said, they evidently,
from the looks of the seamen, suspected their intentions, and drawing
their pistols presented them at the heads of their prisoners.
The ladies shrieked, fancying they were about to fire, and Tom turned
pale.
"Pray don't be alarmed," said Rayner. "We yield to the sergeant, and
before we go I wish, in the name of my companions and myself, to express
to you the deep gratitude we feel for your kindness. Farewell!"
He and Oliver kissed their hands, and the sergeant made significant
signs to them to go through the doorway.
"Have I the word of you two officers and your men that you will commit
no violence?" he asked. "If you refuse it, I shall be under the
necessity of binding your arms behind you."
"What shall I say, Oliver?" asked Rayner. "If we give the promise we
lose the chance of attempting to make our escape; but then again, if our
arms are bound no opportunity can occur."
"Say then that we will attempt no violence, and submit to any directions
he may give us," answered Oliver.
Rayner spoke as Oliver advised, and the sergeant appeared satisfied, as
he imposed no other promise.