"Do you know, Schanvoch," replied Douarnek, "that even kings would be proud of such an ancestry?"
"The blood shed for our country and for liberty by all of us Gauls is our national patent of nobility," I said to him. "It is for that reason that our old songs are so popular among us."
"When one considers," put in one of the younger soldiers, "that it is now more than three hundred years since Hena, the saintly maid, surrendered her own life for the deliverance of the country, and that her name still reaches us!"
"Although it took the young virgin's voice more than two centuries to rise to the ears of Hesus," replied Douarnek, "her voice did finally reach him, seeing that to-day we can say—Victory to our arms! Victory and freedom!"
We had now arrived at about the middle of the river, where the stream is very rapid.
Raising his oar, Douarnek asked me:
"Shall we enter the strong current? That would be a waste of strength, unless we are either to ascend or descend the river a distance equal to that that now separates us from the shore."
"We are to cross the Rhine in its full breadth, friend Douarnek."
"Cross it!" cried the veteran with amazement. "Cross the Rhine! And what for?"
"To land on the opposite shore."