I stood upon a broad fiat rock, over which white sheets of foam were dashing. Oh, how I loved to see them curling on my feet t I could have kissed the bright water on which the moonbeams sported, for the moment of danger was passed; the shadow of a dreadful death had moved from my soul. What cared I now for the boiling surf that toiled and fretted about me? The dangers of the deep were as nothing to that I escaped from; and when the cutter's boat came bounding towards me, I minded not the oft-repeated warnings of the sailors, but plunging in, I dashed towards her on a retreating wave, and was dragged on board almost lifeless from my struggles. The red glare of the signal-fire was blazing from the old tower as we got under weigh. I felt my eyes riveted on it as I lay on the deck of the little vessel, which now stood out to sea in gallant style. It was my last look of France, and so I felt it. CHAPTER XXXIII. THE LANDING With the crew of the cutter I had little intercourse. They were Jerseymen,--that hybrid race, neither French nor English,--who followed the trade of spies and smugglers, and were true to nothing save their own interests. The skipper, a coarse, ill-featured fellow, in no respect superior to the others, leisurely perused the letter De Beauvais gave me on my departure; then, tearing it slowly, threw the pieces into the fire. “What, then, is this?” said he, taking up a sealed packet, which I now for the first time perceived was fastened to my knapsack. “It seems meant for me; look at the address, 'Jacques Oloquette, on board the “Rouge Galant.”'” And so saying, he broke the seal, and bent over the contents. “Oh,” cried he, in a voice of triumphant delight, “this is a prize worth having,--the English signal-book!” And he held up the little volume which Paul Dupont had rescued from the “Fawn.” “How came it here?” said I, horror-struck at the loss the poor sailor had sustained. “Old Martin, of the 'Star,' tells me he stole it from a marine of the Guard, and that it cost him twenty-four flasks of his best Pomard before the fellow and his companions were drunk enough to make the theft practicable.” I remembered at once the eagerness of the landlord for my departure, and the hurried anxiety of his wish that morning might find me miles off on my journey, as well as the care he bestowed on strapping my knapsack, and saw how all had occurred. “I knew most of them already,” continued the skipper. “But here is one will serve our turn well now,--the very thing we wanted, for it saves all delay and stoppage. That flag is the signal for Admiralty despatches, which are often brought by small craft like ours when they can't spare cruisers. We 'll soon rig it out, you 'll see, and run down Channel with all our canvas set.” He went aft as he spoke; and in a few seconds the cutter's head was directed straight towards the English coast, while, crowding on more sail, she seemed to fly through the water.