Raoul's door, Clameran said:

"Now, remember. Stay here, and during my absence be very intimate at
your devoted mother's. Be the most dutiful of sons. Abuse me as much as
you please to her; and, above all, don't indulge in any folly; make no
demands for money; keep your eyes open. Good-by. To-morrow evening I
will be at Oloron talking with this new Clameran."

XVIII

After leaving Valentine de la Verberie, Gaston underwent great peril and
difficulty in effecting his escape.

But for the experienced and faithful Menoul, he never would have
succeeded in embarking.

Having left his mother's jewels with Valentine, his sole fortune
consisted of not quite a thousand francs; and with this paltry sum in
his pocket, the murderer of two men, a fugitive from justice, and with
no prospect of earning a livelihood, he took passage for Valparaiso.

But Menoul was a bold and experienced sailor.

While Gaston remained concealed in a farm-house at Camargue, Menoul went
to Marseilles, and that very evening discovered, from some of his sailor
friends, that a three-masted American vessel was in the roadstead, whose
commander, Captain Warth, a not over-scrupulous Yankee, would be glad to
welcome on board an able-bodied man who would be of assistance to him at
sea.

After visiting the vessel, and finding, during a conversation over
a glass of rum with the captain, that he was quite willing to take a
sailor without disturbing himself about his antecedents, Menoul returned
to Gaston.

"Left to my own choice, monsieur," he said, "I should have settled this
matter on the spot; but you might object to it."

"What suits you, suits me," interrupted Gaston.

"You see, the fact is, you will be obliged to work very hard. A sailor's
life is not boy's play. You will not find much pleasure in it. And I
must confess that the ship's company is not the most moral one I ever
saw. You never would imagine yourself in a Christian company. And the
captain is a regular swaggering bully."

"I have no choice," said Gaston. "Let us go on board at once."

Old Menoul's suspicions were correct.

Before Gaston had been on board the Tom Jones forty-eight hours, he saw
that chance had cast him among a collection of the most depraved bandits
and cut-throats.

The vessel, which seemed to have recruited at all points of the compass,
possessed a crew composed of every variety of thievish knaves; each
country had contributed a specimen.

But Gaston's