ocked him from his
seat.

"What do you think of that, Desailles, for a plan? I told you that
I relied upon Leigh's head more than my own, and you see I had good
reason for doing so. I doubt whether it could be done with his
forty boys, but if we can get the powder, it seems to me that, with
half as many sailors to help us, there is no reason why it should
not succeed."

"But you might burn half the town down," Desailles said, gravely.

"If I was sure that it would burn the whole of it down, I should
not mind," Leigh exclaimed. "But there is not much fear of that. If
it cleared out the whole of the slums, where the supporters of the
gang of murderers they call the committee of public safety live, I
should rejoice most heartily. As there are several wide streets
between them and the business quarters, and as they will have all
the soldiers of the town to assist in fighting the flames, I do not
think that there will be any fear of the fire spreading very far."

"Well, at any rate, Leigh, you have hit on a plan that offers a
good chance of success. We shall find out, in a day or two, how
many of the boatmen we can get to aid us, and how far they will be
disposed to go. We must learn, in some way, how long it is likely
to be before it is absolutely necessary to act. If we find that
there is time, we can send some of the boys off to the army, to
bring their fathers and brothers back with them. The sixty might
not be enough, but with a hundred of our men, I think we should be
pretty sure of success."

Chapter 11: The Attack On Nantes.

When three or four miles down the river the boat was anchored, and
the two men were called into the cabin, and Leigh's scheme
explained to them.

"It is a big affair, sir," Medart said thoughtfully, when Jean had
concluded. "Now, there is no love lost between us and the ruffians
who carry out the committee's orders. They call us river rats, we
call them sewer rats, and there has been many fights between the
fishermen and these fellows, as far back as I can remember, and
lately these have been much more frequent. If the plan was only to
burn down their quarters, there are a good many who would lend a
hand; because it could be done quietly, and they would have no
particular reason for suspecting that it was the work of the
fishermen. But as for going into the jail, that would be different.
We should not have time, by what you say, to hunt up and kill all
the warders; and it would