sou of my patrimony. And, by good
fortune, it became greasy enough to let me slip out of the worst."

"A murderer!" gasped our innocent youth, drawing away from his side.

"She was talkative," the little man explained, with composure.
"But let us converse upon other subjects. Only I must warn you that
on board the galleys, whither we are bound, a man can recoil from his
neighbour but just so far as his chain allows."

In such converse they beguiled the way, talking low whenever an
archer drew near, and whispering together at night until they dropped
asleep in the filthy stables where they were packed, their chains
secured at either end to the wall, and so tightly that they had
barely liberty to lie down, and none to turn, or even stir, in their
sleep. By degrees Tristram grew even to like this volatile and
disreputable comrade, whose conscience was none of his own growing,
but of the laws he lived under.

On reaching Dunkirk, however, they were parted, Tristram being
assigned to the galley _L'Heureuse_, while the Burgundian was told
off to _La Merveille_, then commanded by the Chevalier de
Sainte-Croix.

"You are in luck, comrade," he said, as they parted under the
Rice-bank fort, beside the pier; "_L'Heureuse_ is the Commodore's
galley, and the only one in which a poor devil of a slave has an
awning above his head to keep the rain and sun off. Ah, what it is
to have six feet of stature and a pair of shoulders!"

It turned out as he said. _L'Heureuse_, commanded by the Commodore
de la Pailletine, was the head of a squadron of six galleys then
quartered in the port of Dunkirk. But it is necessary here to say a
word or two about these strange vessels which the Count de Tourville
had recently brought round to the north coast of France from
Marseilles and the ports of the Mediterranean. They were narrow
craft, ranging from 120 feet to 150 feet long, and from eighteen feet
to twenty feet by the beam. In the hold they were not more than
seven feet deep; so that, with a full crew on board, the deck stood
less than a couple of feet from the water's edge; for the number of
men they held was prodigious. The Commodore's galley alone was
manned by 336 slaves, and 150 men of all sorts, either officers,
soldiers, seamen, or servants. This, however, was the biggest
complement of all; for while _L'Heureuse_ had fifty-six oars, with
six slaves to tug at each, none of the rest carried more than fifty,
with five rowers