and
shower lead and fire upon everything within reach. I only trust
they may not do fearful damage to the English ships!"

"Not they!" cried Peter, with a fine contempt in his voice. "The
Frenchies are safe to make a muddle of it somewhere; and our bold
jack tars won't be scared by noise and flame. You'll soon see the
sort of welcome they will give these fiery messengers."

The night darkened. There was no moon, and the faint wreaths of
vapour lay lightly upon the wide waste of waters. Corinne gazed
about her with a sense of fascination. She had never before been so
far out upon the river; and how strange and ghostlike it appeared
in the silence of the night!

Ten o'clock struck from the clocks in the town behind them, and
Colin turned back to look towards the harbour.

"They were to start at ten," he remarked. "Let us lie to now and
watch for them. We must give them a wide berth, but not be too far
distant to see what they do."

Corinne gazed, breathless with excitement, along the darkening
water. The silence and increasing darkness seemed to weigh upon
them like a tangible oppression. They could hear their own excited
breathing; and all started violently when Arthur's voice suddenly
broke the silence by exclaiming:

"I see them! I see them--over yonder!"

The boat in which the eager lads and equally eager girl were afloat
was drifting about not very far distant from the Point of Orleans,
where were an English outpost and some English shipping, although
the main part of the fleet was some distance further on. The
watchers expected that the ghostly ships, gliding upon their silent
way, would pass this first shipping in silence and under cover of
the darkness, and only begin to glow and fire when close to the
larger part of the hostile fleet. Yet as they watched the oncoming
vessels through the murk of the night, they saw small tongues of
flame beginning to flicker through the gloom, and run up the masts
and sails like live things; and all in a moment came a smothered
roar and a bright flashing flame which, for the few seconds it
lasted, showed the whole fire fleet stealing onwards, and the boats
by which the crews of them were making good their escape.

"They have fired them too soon!" cried Colin, in great excitement.
"I know they were not to have done it till they had passed the
Point and got well into the south channel, where all the shipping
lies."

"Hurrah!" cried Peter, waving his cap; "did we not say