Then cautiously, and in the most careful whispers, he told what proved to me once more that I was in no wise fit to direct the movements of even myself while in an enemy’s country.
The soldiers came to his home within half an hour after he arrived, while his mother was making ready the provisions for us which he had just brought.
They demanded to know why the household was astir at such an unseasonable hour, and she, without absolutely telling an untruth, gave them to understand it was because her son, who had been forcibly taken from her the night previous, had but just returned.
Then Leon was forced to submit to the most searching questioning as to how he had escaped from the bateau, and who had brought him to the North Foreland.
He told only the truth in replying to these questions, but did not tell it all.
Two young men, he said, had found him at the mercy of the wind and waves, and yielding to his earnest entreaties, set him ashore near the easternmost end of the point.
When the men asked concerning the two strangers, Leon professed to know nothing, believing it was right to speak an untruth rather than give up to their enemies those who had befriended him.
From what was said during the three hours this searching party remained in Leon’s home, the lad and his mother understood that every effort would be made to prevent those who had assaulted the soldiers from leaving the point, and to that end sentinels were stationed along the shore.
It was believed by the Britishers that those who had brought Leon home were spies, and threats were freely indulged in as to what fate would overtake them once they were captured.
Whether our boat had as yet been discovered we had no means of knowing; but it did not seem probable that those who visited Mrs. Marchand’s home had found the craft, otherwise some mention would have been made of the fact.