"
"A murderer!" gasped our innocent youth, drawing away from his side.
"She was talkative," the little man explained, with composure.
"But let us converse upon other subjects. Only I must warn you that
on board the galleys, whither we are bound, a man can recoil from his
neighbour but just so far as his chain allows."
In such converse they beguiled the way, talking low whenever an
archer drew near, and whispering together at night until they dropped
asleep in the filthy stables where they were packed, their chains
secured at either end to the wall, and so tightly that they had
barely liberty to lie down, and none to turn, or even stir, in their
sleep. By degrees Tristram grew even to like this volatile and
disreputable comrade, whose conscience was none of his own growing,
but of the laws he lived under.
On reaching Dunkirk, however, they were parted, Tristram being
assigned to the galley _L'Heureuse_, while the Burgundian was told
off to _La Merveille_, then commanded by the Chevalier de
Sainte-Croix.
"You are in luck, comrade," he said, as they parted under the
Rice-bank fort, beside the pier; "_L'Heureuse_ is the Commodore's
galley, and the only one in which a poor devil of a slave has an
awning above his head to keep the rain and sun off.
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