Magdalen had taken no pains to conceal her dislike of Bowerman, and her
pleasure on finding that her father no longer trusted him, and that he
equally shared her dislike, was very great. In the necessity of their
prompt escape from the battlefield, all examination of the dead was
precluded, and neither Sir George Lisle nor his daughter knew whether
Bowerman had survived. But now Marie told them of this Englishman, the
girl’s fears were aroused. Bowerman had urged his suit with her father
during their intercourse in France, and Sir George Lisle had received
his advances very coldly, and Magdalen dreaded his finding them,
especially as her father’s conduct in defending the wounded Captain of
the Wight must have been observed.
The danger was imminent. The little hut where they had taken refuge was
on the edge of a rocky bay not far from St Malo, but the intervening
country was scoured by the French troops, and escape by land was next to
impossible.
"We must go by sea," said Sir George. "There is Jean’s old boat."
"But the tide is out, father! look where it is!" said Magdalen, pointing
in dismay to the long stretch of sand, strewn with boulders and piles of
sharp rocks protruding in all directions, while away on the edge of this
waste the sea was breaking on a reef of ugly points of granite, black
with the weather and time, and grinning like the teeth of some wild
animal, amid the foam and froth of the sea. It was too true; the tide
would not come in enough to float the clumsy boat before it would be
dark, and from what Marie said, the men-at-arms would be there before
dusk.
"We must try and push the boat down," said Sir George.
They went back to the hut, and searching in the shed where the few tools
belonging to the labourer were kept, Ralph found some spars that would
serve for rollers.
Sir George had taken the precaution, when they escaped under cover of
the darkness from the field of St Aubin, to bring his own armour and
that of Ralph Lisle with him. He had dismissed his servants, bidding
them shift for themselves, and the horses had been sold by Jean to
provide money for their expenses, and also to prevent suspicion arising,
if such animals were seen in the neighbourhood of his cottage.
Carrying to the boat the few effects they intended taking with them, and
hastily collecting such food as Marie could provide them with, the
fugitives went down the beach to where the boat lay. They anxiously
looked at her. It seemed utterly impossible they could move her. Ralph
was still very weak, and they soon found their fears were too true. They
could not possibly move it.
"’Twill be three hours yet before she floats," said Sir George.
"Any way, we can carry out the anchor as far as this warp will let us,"
said Ralph, "’twill give us greater help to pull her out, and here’s an
old sail we can set all ready for the first lift of the tide. The wind
is right off the land."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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