“I never had the blessing of seeing, to my remembrance, either father or mother,” returned William Thornton. “I was picked up at sea, in a boat, by the crew of a French frigate called the Surveillante.”
“What name did you mention, Master Thornton?” interrupted Madame Volney, who had approached the two young people unobserved; “I thought you mentioned a vessel I remember well.”
“I was telling Mabel, madame,” replied the midshipman “that I was picked up in a boat, when a child of perhaps two years old, by the crew of the Surveillante frigate. The vessel that my unfortunate parents were in, it is conjectured, had been run down in a gale by that vessel.”
“Mon Dieu! how strange and extraordinary,” returned Madame Volney, sitting down by the surprised young couple. “My brother was first-lieutenant of the Surveillante at that time, and often has he spoken to me, years afterwards, of that event, and of the child they picked up—the only living thing saved, as they thought. The Surveillante afterwards fought the English frigate the Quebec; and so greatly was the Surveillante injured, that she went ashore on a reef off Isle Dieu.”
A breeze of wind suddenly springing up, and taking them aback, put a stop to the conversation becoming so interesting to our hero; but Madame Volney said, as our hero proceeded to fulfil some duty, “We will talk of this again, Master Thornton, for I have something to say that may interest you.”
CHAPTER X.
The springing up of a breeze, and in an adverse direction, with a promise of blowing fresh, disappointed all on board; for they fully expected that with the land wind, usually blowing during the night, the vessel would make good way towards Gibraltar.
However, there was no fear of meeting any of the enemy’s cruisers so near that stronghold of Great Britain; but, not being able to make out the two ships of war in the offing, the Babet tacked in shore, with the intention of working along the coast.
“How very singular,” observed Captain O’Loughlin, to our hero, as they walked the deck together, “that Madame Volney’s brother should happen to command the Surveillante at the time they picked you up. I should not be at all surprised that you may hear something very important concerning yourself—perhaps even the name of your parents.”