So soon as he arrived at Antibes, by the express command of the Count, who seemed to take a certain pleasure in tormenting him, he set out in search of some boat to carry them across to Sainte Marguerite.
His search was neither long nor difficult; as bearer of a Cardinal's order, he laid an embargo on the first fishing boat he came across, and embarked aboard it with all his people.
On leaving the mainland, the Count turned, and a smile of peculiar meaning played round his lips.
Bouillot, deceived by this smile, whose secret intention he did not penetrate, bent down to the Count's ear.
"If you like, there is still time," he whispered.
The Count looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, and without replying, sat down in the stern of the boat.
"Push off," Bouillot then shouted to the master.
The latter seized his boathook, and they were soon under weigh.
The Lerins islands form a group composed of several rocks, and two islands surrounded by shoals; the first known as Isle Sainte Marguerite, the second as Saint Honorat.
At the period of our narration only the first was fortified; the other, inhabited by a few fishermen, merely contained the still considerable ruins of the monastery founded by Saint Honorat circa the year 400.