And with a look of hearty satisfaction on his face Le Fûret[1] (for Vaurin’s worthy lieutenant it was) withdrew to safer covert. Footnote 1: None of Vaurin’s villains were taken by the English at the time of the great capture, for none dared come within a league of an English proclamation lest it should turn into a rope to throttle them.—P. G. Le Fûret smiled to himself; but Yvonne almost laughed aloud as she ran, deaf to the growing roar at the farther end of the village and heedless of the flaring crimson that made the air like blood. The wharf, when she reached it, was in a final spasm of confusion, and shouted orders, and sobbings. Now, she grew cautious. Drawing her cloak close about her face, she pushed through the crowd toward the boat. Just then a firm hand was laid upon her arm, and a very low voice said in her ear,—with less surprise, to be sure, than on a former occasion by Gaspereau lower ford,— “_You_ here, Mademoiselle de Lamourie?” Her heart stood still; and she turned upon him a look of such imploring, desperate dismay that Lieutenant Waldron without another word drew her to one side. Then she found voice. “Oh, if you have any mercy, any pity, do not betray me,” she whispered. “But what does this mean? It is my duty to ask,” he persisted, still puzzled. “I am trying to save my life, my soul, everything, before it’s too late!” she said. “Oh,” said he, comprehending suddenly. “Well, I think you had better not tell me anything more. I think it is _not_ my duty to say anything about this meeting. You may be doing right. I wish you good fortune and good-by, mademoiselle!”—and, to her wonder, he was off among the crowd. Still trembling from the encounter, she hastened to the boat. She found it already half laden; and in the stern, to her delight, she saw Mother Pêche’s red mantle. She was on the point of calling to her, but checked herself just in time. The boat was twenty paces from the wharf-edge; and those twenty paces were deep ooze, intolerable beyond measure to white moccasins. Absorbed in her one purpose, which was to get on board the ship without delay, she had not looked to one side or the other, but had regarded women, children, soldiers, boatmen, as so many bushes to be pushed through. Now, however, letting her hood part a little from her face, she glanced hither and thither with her quick imperiousness, and then from her feet to that breadth of slime, as if demanding an instant bridge. The next thing she knew she was lifted by a pair of stout arms and carried swiftly through the mud to the boatside. After a moment’s hot flush of indignation at the liberty, she realized that this was by far the best possible solution of the problem, as there was no bridge forthcoming. She looked up gratefully, and saw that her cavalier was a big red-coat, with a boyish, jolly face. As he gently set her down in the boat she gave him a radiant look which brought the very blood to his ears.