The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Volume 6 — John Shaqi
The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Volume 6Parker, Gilbert
General
The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Volume 6
Parker, Gilbert
Anglo-French War, 1793-1802 -- Fiction; Channel Islands -- Fiction
The day that saw Guida's restitution in the Cohue Royale brought but
further trouble to Ranulph Delagarde. The Chevalier had shown him the
lost register of St. Michael's, and with a heart less heavy, he left the
island once more. Intending to join Detricand in the Vendee, he had
scarcely landed at St. Malo when he was seized by a press-gang and
carried aboard a French frigate commissioned to ravage the coasts of
British America. He had stubbornly resisted the press, but had been
knocked on the head, and there was an end on it.
In vain he protested that he was an Englishman. They laughed at him.
His French was perfect, his accent Norman, his was a Norman face--
evidence enough. If he was not a citizen of France he should be, and he
must be. Ranulph decided that it was needless to throw away his life.
It was better to make a show of submission. So long as he had not to
fight British ships, he could afford to wait. Time enough then for him
to take action. When the chance came he would escape this bondage;
meanwhile remembering his four years' service with the artillery at
Elizabeth Castle, he asked to be made a gunner, and his request was
granted.
The Victoire sailed the seas battle-hungry, and presently appeased her
appetite among Dutch and Danish privateers. Such excellent work did
Ranulph against the Dutchmen, that Richambeau, the captain, gave him a
gun for himself, and after they had fought the Danes made him a master-
gunner. Of the largest gun on the Victoire Ranulph grew so fond that at
last he called her ma couzaine.
Days and weeks passed, until one morning came the cry of "Land! Land!"
and once again Ranulph saw British soil--the tall cliffs of the peninsula
of Gaspe. Gaspe--that was the ultima Thule to which Mattingley and
Carterette had gone.
Presently, as the Victoire came nearer to the coast, he could see a bay
and a great rock in the distance, and, as they bore in now, the rock
seemed to stretch out like a vast wall into the gulf. As he stood
watching and leaning on ma couzaine, a sailor near him said that the bay
and the rock were called Perce.
Perce Bay--that was the exact point for which Elie Mattingley and
Carterette had sailed with Sebastian Alixandre. How strange it was! He
had bidden Carterette good-bye for ever, yet fate had now brought him to
the very spot whither she had gone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account