"That was a close shave," he said to the cockswain; "if I had not swam out you would never have been able to take me off."
"We made them out, sir, and thinking, I suppose, that you could not get off nohow while they were there, Mr. Harding had given the word to go about, when we saw you run out and take to the water. We were not long in getting the boat down and starting, you may be sure."
"What is the news, Peter?" Harding asked, as he stepped on to the deck.
"Just what I expected, Harding. The villains have murdered the baron and taken the ladies prisoners, and they are going to march with them to Marseilles this afternoon. The scoundrels were drinking heavily, and I don't think they will move until five o'clock, then I expect there will be a good many left behind. We will stand out to sea now. We daren't land till dusk, for you may be sure those soldiers who were firing at me will be watching us. I expect they don't know what to make of it. No doubt they have had their eye on the schooner for the last week, and I should think that they have put us down as a privateer from Marseilles or Toulon. I hope they will think that I was one of the crew who had been landed to see what was going on at the château, though it will puzzle them, why in that case I risked being shot.
"Yes, that is certain to rouse their suspicions."
"Well, we will keep right out, and run in after it gets dark, seven or eight miles along the coast land, and take post on the road from the château to Marseilles. As I have ridden over it two or three times I know it pretty well, and there is one point where it comes within a mile of the sea. It is pretty well dark by seven o'clock, and even if they start at five—and I don't think that there is much chance of that—we shall be there before they come along, for they won't be able to go more than two and a half, or at most three miles, an hour."
"I wish I could go with you, Peter!"
"I wish you could, but you see you must remain on board. It would never do to leave the ship without an officer; besides, I may want your guns to cover our retreat. I have no fear of being able to rescue the ladies by a sudden attack, but the brutes will no doubt follow us up closely. I shall leave the boats when a good mile off shore; but you must come in as close as you can. Keep the lead going, and anchor with only a foot or two of water under your keel; what tide there is will be rising. When we get to the edge of the steep ground going down to the beach I shall send half the men down with the ladies to get into the boats, and to stand ready to push them off. I will take a blue light with me, and will fire it, and drop it as soon as we make our rush down. Then you will be able to make them out, and open with grape over our heads. Perhaps the first shot or two had better be with ball, grape are apt to scatter too much; but as soon as we are fairly away from the shore you can give them grape."
"How many men will you take with you?"
"Thirty; it was for that that I got the extra ten hands from the captain. There are three or four hundred of them, and about half their number have got muskets. I don't expect that they will be in a condition to shoot very straight; but half-drunk as most of them will be, they may try to rush us, and thirty men won't be any too many."