the river with a slow, almost solemn
motion, as if bearing within it a silent contemplation of the old
country, and the mysterious poetry belonging to all things that come
from afar. Notwithstanding the July heat, a strong breeze blew freshly
over the lovely scene, for the wind came up from the coast with the
cheerful freshness of the open sea, and let it be guessed that a little
further away, beyond those hurrying waves already abandoned by the calm
tranquillity of still waters, lay the deep green of the limitless ocean,
with its billows, its fogs, and its tempests.

"And Indret? where is it?" asks Jack.

"There, that island in front of us."

In the silvery mist which enveloped the island, Jack saw confusedly
lines of great poplars and tall chimneys, whence issued a thick filthy
smoke, spreading over all, blackening even the sky above it. At the same
time he heard a clamorous and resounding din, hammers falling on wrought
and sheet iron, dull sounds, ringing sounds, variously re-echoed by the
sonority of the water; and over everything a continuous and perpetual
droning, as if the island had been a great steamer, stopped, and
murmuring, moving its paddles while at anchor, and its machinery while
yet motionless.

As the boat approached the shore, slowly and yet more slowly,--for the
tide ran strongly and was hard to fight against,--the child began to
distinguish long buildings with low roofs, blackened walls extending on
all sides with uniform dreariness; then, on the banks of the river as
far as the eye could reach, long lines of enormous boilers painted with
red lead, the startling color giving a wildly fantastic effect.
Government transports, steam launches, ranged alongside the quay, lay
waiting till these boilers should be put on board by means of a great
crane near at hand, which viewed from a distance looked like a gigantic
gibbet.

At the foot of this gallows stood a man watching the approach of the
boat.

"It is Roudic," said the singer; and from the deepest depths he brought
forth a formidable "hurrah!" which made itself heard even in the midst
of all the din of forging and hammering.

"Is that you, young 'un?"

"Yes, by Jove, it is I; are there two such notes as mine in the whole
world?"

The boat touched the shore, and the two brothers sprang into each
other's arms with a mighty greeting.

They were alike; but Roudic was much older, and wanting in that
embonpoint so quickly acquired by singers i