She had the same idea which had occurred to Jack.
The English frigates were at this time so frequently seen off the coast, that Captain Turgot, who had several boats as well as the cutter, thought it prudent to confine his operations to inshore fishing, so as not to run the risk of being captured.
Jack and Bill sometimes went out with him, but, for some reason or other, he more generally left them at home.
Pierre, who was a good swimmer, induced them to come down and bathe with him in the morning, and gave them instruction in the art.
Jack could already swim a little. Bill took to it at once, and beat him hollow; in a short time being able to perform all sorts of evolutions. He was soon so perfectly at home in the water, that he declared he felt able to swim across the Channel, if he could carry some food with him to support himself on the way.
Jack laughed at the idea, observing that “nobody ever had swum across the Channel, and he did not believe that anybody ever would do so.”
Pierre advised Bill not to make the attempt.
“No fear,” said Jack. “He’ll not go without me, and I am not going to drown myself if I can help it.”
Bill, however, often thought over the matter, and tried to devise some plan by which he and Jack might manage to get across. His plans came to nothing; and, indeed, the Channel where they were was much too wide to be crossed except in a small vessel or in a large boat. Jack was beginning to speak French pretty well, and Bill was able to gabble away with considerable fluency, greatly to the delight of Jeannette, who was his usual instructress. He tried to teach her a little English in return, but she laughed at her own attempts, and declared that she should never be able to pronounce so break-jaw a language.
Bill thought that she got on very well, but she seemed more anxious to teach him French than to learn English herself.