in of thought to which
its firmly nailed and iron-bound exterior gave rise seemed, to judge by
their effect, to be of a very mingled and complicated character, for she
knitted her brows, pursed her lips, and then, after a sudden convulsive
shudder, she murmured, in a low hesitating voice:

"It is his own fault--it is his own fault!"

"Nicholas, do you see them? Just down there, along the path,--a country
girl and an old woman!" exclaimed Calabash, pointing to the other side
of the river, where Madame Seraphin and Fleur-de-Marie were descending a
narrow, winding path which passed by a high bank, on the top of which
were the lime-kilns.

"Let us wait for the signal; don't let us spoil the job by too much
haste," said Nicholas.

"What! Are you blind? Don't you recognise the stout woman who came the
day before yesterday? Look at her orange shawl; and the little country
girl, what a hurry she seems in! She's a good little thing, I know; and
it's plain she has no idea of what is going to happen to her, or she
wouldn't hasten on at that pace, I'm thinking."

"Yes, I recollect the stout woman now. It's all right, then--all right!
Although they are so much behind the time I had almost given up the job
as bad. But let us quite understand the thing, Calabash. I shall take
the old woman and the young girl in the boat with a valve to it; you
will follow me close on, stern to stern; and mind and row steadily, so
that, with one spring, I may jump from one boat to the other, as soon as
I have opened the pipe and the water begins to sink the boat."

"Don't be afraid about me, it is not the first time I've pulled a boat,
is it?"

"I am not afraid of being drowned, you know I can swim; but, if I did
not jump well into the other boat, why, the women, in their struggles
against drowning, might catch hold of me and--much obliged to you, but I
have no fancy for a bath with the two ladies."

"The old woman waves her handkerchief," said Calabash; "there they are
on the bank."

"Come, come along, mother, let's push off," said Nicholas, unmooring.
"Come you into the boat with the valve, then the two women will not have
any fear; and you, Calabash, jump into t'other, and use your arms, my
girl, and pull a good one. Ah, by the way, take the boat-hook and put it
beside you, it is as sharp as a lance, and it may be useful," added the
ruffian, as he placed beside Calabash in the boat a long hook with a
sharp iron point.

A few moments, an