ened, and their
resistance became more feeble. Monsieur de Fontanges carved his way to
the taffrail, and then turned round to kill again. In a few minutes the
most feeble-hearted escaped below, leaving the few remaining brave to be
hacked to pieces, and the deck of the pirate vessel was in possession of
the British crew. Not waiting to recover his breath, Monsieur de
Fontanges rushed below to secure his wife. The cabin-door was locked,
but yielded to his efforts, and he found her in the arms of her
attendants in a state of insensibility. A scream of horror at the sight
of his bloody sword, and another of joy at the recognition of their
master, was followed up with the assurance that Madame had only fainted,
Monsieur de Fontanges took his wife in his arms, and carried her on
deck, where, with the assistance of the seamen, he removed her on board
of the Windsor Castle, and in a short time had the pleasure to witness
her recovery. Their first endearments over, there was an awkward
question to put to a wife. After responding to her caresses, Monsieur
de Fontanges inquired, with an air of anxiety very remarkable in a
Frenchman, how she had been treated. "Il n'y a pas de mal, mon ami,"
replied Madame de Fontanges. This was a jesuitical sort of answer, and
Monsieur de Fontanges required further particulars. "Elle avoit
temporisee" with the ruffian, with the faint hope of that assistance
which had so opportunely and unexpectedly arrived. Monsieur de
Fontanges was satisfied with his wife's explanation; and such being the
case, what passed between Jackson and Madame de Fontanges can be no
concern of the reader's. As for Mimi and Charlotte, they made no such
assertion; but, when questioned, the poor girls burst into tears, and,
calling the captain and first-lieutenant of the pirate barbarians, and
every epithet they could think of, complained bitterly of the usage
which they had received.

We left Newton floored (as Captain Oughton would have said) on the deck
of the pirate vessel, and Isabel in a swoon on the poop of the Windsor
Castle. They were both taken up, and then taken down, and recovered
according to the usual custom in romances and real life. Isabel was the
first to _come to_, because, I presume, a blow on the heart is not quite
so serious as a blow on the head. Fortunately for Newton, the tomahawk
had only glanced along the temple, not injuring the skull, although it
stunned him, and detached a very decen