ailor who swam to shore was confirmed by other testimony. These
fellows swore they had seen the lost women struggling in the water.
Another declared he saw them sink while he was making a desperate
effort, against wave and gale, to reach them in his boat.
Notwithstanding the assertions of the watermen, Deville did not
relinquish faith in his own eyes. He suspected foul play. So did
Winslow, who began to discover the spurious quality of the pretended
salvage corps. The vigilant exertions of these hookers-in of flotsam
could be accounted for only on the supposition that here, at the
outlet of Cypress Bayou, Captain Winslow had fallen into the hands of
a gang such as he had described to his passengers.

Palafox and his confederate made haste to return from their thieves'
den to the scene of the wreck. Deville's pleading inquiry concerning
the missing girls drew from the abductors feigned expressions of
surprise and regret. Turning to Winslow, Palafox said:

"I'm 'stonished, captain, that you risked takin' women on board a
freight boat."

"Yes," added Sheldrake. "You'll blame y'rself 's long 's you live.
Them bodies will come up as floaters, down about Baton Rouge."

Doctor Deville groaned.

"No, no! Say not that. My dear daughter shall not be lost! Ah! Mon
dieu!"

"Daughter? Was one of 'em your daughter, grand-daddy?" exclaimed
Sheldrake. "Think of that, Burke! His daughter drownded!"

"_Je suis fache de votre malheur, pere_," said Palafox, in a tone of
affected commiseration. Then turning to Sheldrake with a grin, "Better
not devil the old man any more, Shel; he's gone crazy. Hello, there
comes another boat!"

The craft sighted was a transport, flying the Stripes and Stars, and
bearing a detachment of soldiers from St. Louis to Natchez. On being
vociferously hailed by Winslow and his men, the batteau headed for the
shore. During the slow and laborious process of landing, the wreckers,
observing uniformed soldiers, with guns, furtively slipped away, one
by one, disappearing in the bush; all excepting Palafox, who, with
brazen audacity, still held his ground, acting his part as succorer of
the unfortunate.

"I mean to join the army myself," said he to Winslow, as a lieutenant
and several men came ashore. "I'd enlist now if it wasn't for my
family at home--two sick babies."

A yell of delight from Dr. Deville startled all on shore and on the
boat. His vigilant eye, ever enfilading the tangled copse to the
eastw