“Abandon Erebus!” cried Pog, with such passionate energy that Hadji looked at him in amazement “Abandon Erebus! but you do not know—what am I saying,—how can you know? This instant,—this instant bring the boy to me. You answer to me for him with your life—with your life, do you understand? Or indeed—but no—I will go myself on board his chebec; that will be more sure.”
At the same moment the pilot of the Red Galleon entered with an excited air. “Captain,” said he, to Pog, “in examining the horizon with my telescope, I have just discovered a galley and a polacre. These two vessels may pass without discovering us. Eblis grant it, for the black galley is fatal to those she attacks.”
“The black galley?” asked Pog.
“Who does not know the black galley of the Commander des Anbiez?” said the pilot.
“Eh, no doubt!” cried the Bohemian. “They expected the commander every day at Maison-Forte, the castle of Raimond V. Pierre des Anbiez must have arrived after us, he must have seen the citizens’ houses in flames, and known that his niece was carried off and his brother killed, and he is seeking us to avenge them.”
“That galley is the galley of the commander Pierre des Anbiez?” said Pog, stuttering, so profound was his astonishment “Pierre des Anbiez—the commander—here—he!”
It is impossible to picture the burst of savage joy with which Pog uttered these words.
After a short silence, during which he passed his hand over his brow, as if to assure himself that what happened around him was real, he suddenly fell on his knees, clasped his hands, and said, with an air of the deepest piety:
“My God, my God! Forgive me. Long have I doubted thy justice; to-day it reveals itself to me in all its glorious majesty! Lord—Lord—forgive me. Grief has distracted me; now thine almighty power is manifest in my sight. The same day thou dost place father and son at the mercy of my vengeance, after twenty years of torture. My God! after twenty years. Lord—Lord, upon my knees I thank thee; my entire life will not suffice to pray to thee, and to bless thee! The father and son in my power! My God, thou art sovereignly great! Thou art sovereignly just!”
The violent transports of fury to which Pog was subject had never terrified Hadji, but this prayer, delivered in a low, trembling, solemn voice, filled him with a vague disquietude.