At last they reached the beach, which was composed of a fine gravel, and stopped to recover their breath. A little way off two boats were drawn up side by side. The sea, quite calm, unruffled by the smallest wave, lapped against their keels. De Bennetot pointed out the hole he had made in the bottom of the smaller of the two, which for the time being was closed by a kind of stopper of straw. They set the stretcher on the three thwarts. “Let’s tie the whole lot together,” said Godfrey d’Etigues. De Bennetot made a very sensible objection; he said: “And if ever there’s a search, and this boat and stretcher and girl are found tied together at the bottom of the sea, this stretcher will prove damned awkward evidence against us.” “We’ve got to go far enough out to make it impossible for anyone to recover anything ever,” said the Baron. “Besides it’s an old stretcher which hasn’t been used for the last twenty years. I routed it out from a loft full of lumber. There’s nothing to fear from that.” He spoke in a shaky, fearful voice that de Bennetot hardly recognized. “What’s the matter with you, Godfrey?” he asked. “The matter with me? What should be the matter with me?” muttered the Baron more than a trifle indistinctly. “Then?...” “Then shove the boat down into the water.... But first of all, according to the instructions of Beaumagnan, we’ve got to remove her gag and ask her if there is any last wish she wants carrying out. You’d better get it over.” “Me?” de Bennetot almost howled. “Me touch her? Me see her? I’d rather die!... Suppose you do it!” “I couldn’t.... I’ll be damned if I could,” murmured the Baron huskily. “But she’s guilty.... She committed those murders.” “Of course.... Of course.... At least it’s probable that she did.... The only thing is she looked such a gentle creature.” “Yes,” said de Bennetot. “And she’s so pretty--as beautiful as the Virgin.” With one accord they fell on their knees on the pebbles and started to pray aloud for the girl who was about to die and on whose behalf they called for “the intervention of the Virgin Mary.” Godfrey mingled verses from the burial service with prayers and de Bennetot punctuated them at intervals with fervent amens. This appeared to restore their courage a trifle, for they suddenly rose, burning to get the business over. De Bennetot brought the great boulder he had ready, and tied it firmly to the iron ring. They pushed the boat down the beach into the still water. Then, together, they pushed the other boat down the beach and clambered into it. Godfrey took the two oars while de Bennetot tied the painter of the boat of the doomed woman to the last thwart of the boat they were in, then shipped the rudder.