"She has held twenty, Monseigneur."
"You will need strong arms to help you row, will you not?"
"Yes, indeed," said Anselme; "for I shall have my hands full with the helm and the sail, if we can carry sail."
"We have three men," said Martin-Guerre,—"Ambrosio, Pilletrousse, and Landry,—who can row as if they had never done anything else in their lives, and I myself can swim with a pair of oars as easily as with my arms."
"Well, well," said Anselme, joyously, "I shall quite have the appearance of a smart sea-captain with so many fine fellows in my crew! There is one point on which Master Martin has thus far left me in ignorance, and that is the precise spot where we are to land."
"The Risbank fort," Gabriel replied.
"The Risbank fort! Did you say the Risbank fort?" cried the stupefied fisherman.
"Certainly I did," said Gabriel; "what objection have you to offer to that?"
"Oh, nothing," rejoined Anselme, "except that it is hardly possible to land at that point, and that I personally have never cast anchor there. It's nothing but rocks."
"Do you refuse to guide us?" asked Gabriel.