n,
two of them tenderly nurtured and wholly unused to want or privation;
and De Pontbriand was in no condition to be of any assistance. Their
position seemed indeed desperate, and Claude cursed the bitter fate
which had made him the cause of bringing such misfortune on his beloved.

But old Bastienne came once more to the rescue. Her stolid, peasant
endurance and ready Picard wit stood the whole party in good stead. She
found a flint and steel--for De Roberval had provided for all
necessities--and with the aid of the two girls she collected brushwood
and dry branches enough to make a huge fire, the smoke of which, rising
high into the air, was visible on the horizon from the departing ship.
The sailors fell on their knees in terror at the sight, believing it
another proof that the demons were consuming their victims with
unquenchable flames.

Bastienne soon had Claude's wet clothes dried, and his strength revived
by hot stimulants. Provisions they had in plenty--of the rude fare which
was provided on ship-board in those days--and the old woman prepared a
hasty meal, of which she forced the two girls to partake. But by this
time the darkness had gathered round them, and it was impossible to do
anything further that night.

Fortunately, the time of year was a favourable one. The weather was
warm, even for June; and the storm which Roberval had predicted seemed
to have passed over, for the present at all events. The balmy air and
clear sky of a Canadian summer night made the prospect of spending it in
the open air a much less terrible one than it would otherwise have
been. They kept their fire up all night, as a protection, but they met
with no alarms, and were unmolested, save by the insects which swarmed
in the air around them, attracted by the light. Claude, worn out by
fatigue, slept the deep sleep of exhaustion, and Marguerite spent most
of the night watching by his side, while the other two women attended to
the fire.

The short June night soon gave place to the ghostly, grey twilight
before the dawn; and at last the welcome streaks of colour in the east
proclaimed to the weary watchers that daylight was again at hand. Their
first night in their island home was over.

The morning broke fair and cloudless, and the little colony of four set
about surveying their situation, and exploring their new domain. They
found it a wilderness indeed--barren, rocky, almost devoid of
vegetation, save for the coarse bracken and