r."

"And we have told you why a score of times," put in Tournier in the
quietest possible way. "The English have deprived us of liberty, but
they shall never deprive us of honour. We are on parole, and we are
bound in honour, therefore, not to try and escape even if we could."

"Honour!" said a privateer captain, turning up his nose in a very
pronounced manner.

"Yes, sir, honour! Perhaps you do not know the meaning of the word."

The nose went down, and the temper went up. "I do, sir, quite as much as
you. But I don't call truckling to the enemy honour."

"Nor do I," said Tournier.

The perfect quietness of his manner provoked the other more than any
angry words would have done.

"But that's what you are doing--truckling to the English."

The malcontents applauded.

This emboldened him to go on. "You are traitors to your own countrymen."

"You know," said Tournier calmly, "I cannot treat you for that insult as
I would if free--that is, if it were not beneath me to notice it from one
like you."

He sprung up and struck Tournier.

They all sprung up. Tournier himself sprung up. A general fight seemed
imminent. But the greater part were gentlemen, and Tournier, still calm,
said with a smile, "Take no notice of it, my friends. Let us withdraw.
At least we will bear away the palm of victory over our tempers."

The malcontents were disconcerted at this magnanimity.

Only Villemet would have a parting shot, and as he retired, said, "If
ever I meet that _coquin_ outside these cursed walls, I'll horsewhip him
black and blue."

The man was making for Villemet, but his companions pulled him back.

Within an hour Captain Martin had returned with a troop of yeomanry. They
had just had a field-day, and for some reason, one of the troops had not
been dismissed like the rest. So, without waiting a moment, officers and
men galloped off to Norman Cross. The other troops of yeomanry were to
follow as soon as they could be got together, along with three or four
companies of volunteers and militia.

The tumult was still continuing among the prisoners, though with more
frequent spells of comparative quiet: symptoms, perhaps, of exhaustion.
No opening had yet been discovered in the palisades, though the soldiers
thought they sometimes heard, when a lull in the uproar occurred, the
sound of heavy blows against them, which almost directly ceased when the
uproar abated. And it made some entertain the idea, tha