Half an hour passed, as well as Harry could judge; then the boom of a
cannon was heard, and immediately two men leapt down into the hold,
knocked the six plugs out of their place, and climbed up on deck again.
There was again the scraping noise, and Harry knew the boat had pushed
off this time for good. He watched the six jets of water for a minute
or two. Then saying to himself, "It is time," he knocked the beams from
their ledges, allowed the square of wood to fall, lifted the hatch, and
pushed it off its combing, and clambered on to the deck with the corks
and ropes.
There were some fifty persons on board, for the most part women and
children, but with two or three men among them. They were gathered near
the stern, and were apparently watching the scene ashore with
astonishment. He hurried aft, having no fear that at this distance from
the shore his figure would be recognized from the rest, and if it were
it mattered not. Two or three turned round as the supposed sailor came
aft, exclaiming:
"What does this mean? Why are we put here on board these white ships?
What are they going to do with us?"
"Alas, ladies!" he said, "they have put you here to die; they have bored
holes in the ships' bottoms, and in a few minutes they will sink. It is
a wholesale execution."
As he began to speak one of the ladies in the stern pushed her way
through the rest.
"Oh, Harry, is it you!" she exclaimed as he finished. "Is it true, are
we to die together?"
"We are in God's hands, Jeanne, but there is hope yet. Bring Virginie
forward with me."
At Harry's first words a panic had seized all around; one or two ran to
the hatchway and looked down into the hold, and screamed out that the
water was rushing in; then some cried to the distant crowd to send to
save them; others ran up and down as if demented; while some threw
themselves on their knees.
But the panic soon passed away. All had for weeks looked death in the
face; and though the unexpected form in which it appeared had for the
moment shaken them, they soon recovered. Mothers clasped their
daughters to their breasts for a last farewell, and then all with bowed
heads kneeled and listened in silence to an old man who began to pray
aloud.
Jeanne, without another word, had taken Virginie's hands and accompanied
Harry forward to the fore part of the deck.
"Jeanne, I am going to try to save you and Virginie, but everything
depends upon your being cool and brave. I need not urge you, because I
am sure of you. Virginie, will you try to be cool for Jeanne's sake and
your own? If you do not we must all die together."
"What are we to do, Harry?" Jeanne said steadily; while Virginie clung
to her sister, sobbing bitterly.
"Fasten this bundle of corks between Virginie's shoulders, high up--yes,
there."