boat ready, and order the women to prepare to land. I am going
to give them a holiday on the island."

This was a project after Gaillon's own heart. He rubbed his hands with
fiendish delight, and set about giving the necessary orders. A boat was
soon lowered, and filled with provisions, clothing, and ammunition in
plenty. Gaillon and two or three of the desperadoes whom he had
completely under his control, pulled ashore and landed their cargo.
Roberval himself superintended the selection from the ship's stores, and
thrice did he order the boat to return, each time with as large a load
as it could carry.

All this time the rest of the crew stood gaping with astonishment,
unable to imagine what Roberval's intentions might be, but ready, at the
slightest addition to their superstitious fears, to fly into open
mutiny.

At last the boat returned from her third trip. Roberval, in the
meantime, had ordered the women to get ready to go on shore, and they
now came on deck, bewildered with surprise, and uncertain what fate
might be in store for them. Roberval commanded them to enter the boat,
which was now alongside. A murmur of dismay and sympathy went round the
vessel, as the full horror of his project dawned upon the crew; but no
man dared to interfere, save Pere Lebeau. Undaunted by his rebuff of a
few days before, the priest stepped up to De Roberval, and fixing his
eyes full upon him, he exclaimed:

"Sieur, beware what you do! What are your intentions towards these
helpless women who have no other protector but yourself? You cannot be
so lost to all sense of honour and chivalry as to abandon them to perish
on this desolate shore! How can you expect the blessing of God upon this
enterprise if you wilfully do this great wrong? Take care lest the
Church should refuse to pardon you, and should cast from her fold the
man who could be guilty of so monstrous a crime."

For a moment Roberval's gaze shifted under the scathing indignation of
the priest, then, drawing him hastily aside, he muttered in an
undertone:

"Spare your wrath, good Father; I but mean to teach them a lesson. I
will return for them in good time--I swear it. It is but a necessary
discipline that I would give them, so that they may learn to obey me for
the future."

"They will die of terror!" said the priest. "You have heard the legends
of the demons who haunt the island; and how do you know to what perils
you are subjecting them from the savages, if not