This was told to me as if it were another huge joke, but I thought it was a strange condition for the Captain of a vessel to be in.
"We're off the coast of France," I said, "not far from Dunkerque."
"Dunkerque?" repeated the Captain. "Ho, ho! that's fortunate."
At this moment Plummer, with two or three of the crew of the whale-boat, which was being hoisted in, came aft. They had the little Frenchman, who looked half frightened to death, with them.
"Here's the pilot, Captain Gorham," Plummer said, touching his cap.
The Captain's reply to this, and the effect of it, almost took my breath away.
"Ah, Pierre," he said, "c'est donc vous? How is Madame Burron, and the little ones?"
The little Frenchman drew back, and then fell at the Captain's feet, grasping his hand.
"Ah, Capitaine Rieur, bonne fortune!" he cried, and he mumbled something I could not catch.