A cheer broke from all who were standing within hearing; and the boys' hands--for Percy came up at the moment--were warmly shaken by the officers of the boat, one after another. Congratulations of all sorts were heaped upon them, and those around were unable to make enough of them.
"No pigeon has come in, for ten days," the commander said. "You will indeed be welcome."
At this moment, a sailor came down to say that they were passing the Louvre and, in another two minutes, the gunboat lay alongside the wharf.
"You do not know, I suppose, where Trochu is to be found?" the commander of the Farcey asked.
"No, indeed," Ralph said.
"I will go with you, myself," the officer said. "If the general has gone to bed, we must knock him up. He won't mind, when he hears the reason."
It was but a short distance to walk, but the boys had great difficulty in getting there; for their limbs were stiff and aching, and they felt a burning sensation all over them, as if they had been dipped in boiling water. General Trochu had not yet gone to bed and--upon the message being delivered by the orderly, "The commander of the Farcey, with officers bearing dispatches, from Tours,"--he ordered them to be instantly admitted.
"These are the Lieutenants Barclay, general," the commander of the Farcey said. "A heavy firing broke out, suddenly, from the water side at Lower Meudon. It was answered from our side and--thinking that it might be someone trying to swim across--I fired a round of grape into the Germans, and ordered a sharp lookout to be kept. I had scarcely spoken the words before we were hailed for a rope; and in another minute these officers--both insensible from cold--were pulled on board. Thinking they might have dispatches, I at once started up the river; and when they were brought round, by the surgeon, they stated that they were the Lieutenants Barclay, bearers of dispatches from Tours."
"Gallantly done, gentlemen! Bravely done!" the general said warmly, shaking both boys by the hand.
The burning heat of Percy's hand struck him, at once.