one of the round
towers, for presently a white sail came heading for us, and we hastily ran
up our own and turned and sped out to sea, believing that they would not
dare to follow us far. They chased us till the coast sank out of our sight,
and could have caught us if they had kept on, but they doubtless feared a
trap and so were satisfied to have got rid of us. When they gave it up we
turned and ran south for Dieppe, and sighted the coast a little to the
north of that small fishing port just before sunset.

Here Le Marchant was among friends, having visited the place many times in
the way of business, and we were welcomed and made much of. We were anxious
to get on, but the wind blew up so strongly from the south-west that we
could have made no headway without ratching all the time to windward, and
the sea was over high for our small boat. So we lay there three days, much
against our will, though doubtless to the benefit of our bodies. And I have
wondered at times, in thinking back over all these things, whether matters
might not have worked out otherwise if the wind had been in a different
quarter. Work out to their fully appointed end I knew they had to do, of
course. But that three days' delay at Dieppe brought us straight into the
direst peril conceivable, and an hour either way--ay, or ten minutes for
that matter--might have avoided it. But, as my grandfather used to say, and
as I know he fervently believed, a man's times and courses are ordered by a
wisdom higher than his own, and the proper thing for him to do is to take
things as they come, and make the best of them.

After three days the wind shifted to the north-west, and we said good-bye
to our hosts and loosed for Cherbourg, well-provisioned and in the best of
spirits, for Cherbourg was but round the corner from home.

We made a comfortable, though not very quick, passage, the wind falling
slack and fitful at times, so that it was the evening of the next day
before we slipped in under the eastern end of the great digue they were
building for the protection of the shipping in the harbour. It was at that
time but a few feet above water level, and its immense length gave it a
very curious appearance, like a huge water-snake lying flat on the surface
of the sea.

We pulled in under an island which held a fort, and keeping along that side
of the roadstead, ran quietly ashore, drew our boat up, and went up into
the town.

CHAPTER XXVIII

HOW WE WALKE