the sea
compelled him to be very crafty. Instead of pushing straightway for the
bar and hoisting sail--which might have brought a charge of grape-shot
after him--he kept in the gloom of the piles nearly into the left bank,
and then hugged the shadow it afforded. Nothing but the desolate sands
surveyed him, and the piles of wrack cast up by gales from the west.
Then with a stout heart he stepped his little mast, and the breeze,
which freshened towards the rising of the sun, carried him briskly
through the tumble of the bar.

The young man knelt and said his morning prayer, with one hand still
upon the tiller; for, like most men who have fought well for England,
he had staunch faith in the Power that has made and guides the nations,
until they rebel against it. So far his success had been more than his
own unaided hand might work, or his brain with the utmost of its labours
second. Of himself he cast all thoughts away, for his love seemed lost,
and his delight was gone; the shores of his country, if he ever reached
them, would contain no pleasure for him; but the happiness of millions
might depend upon his life, and first of all that of his mother.

All by himself in this frail old tub, he could scarcely hope to cross
the Channel, even in the best of weather, and if he should escape the
enemy, while his scanty supplies held out. He had nothing to subsist on
but three small loaves, and a little keg of cider, and an old tar tub
which he had filled with brackish water, upon which the oily curdle of
the tar was floating. But, for all that, he trusted that he might hold
out, and retain his wits long enough to do good service.

The French coast, trending here for leagues and leagues nearly due north
and south, is exposed to the long accumulating power of a western gale,
and the mountain roll of billows that have known no check. If even a
smart breeze from the west sprang up, his rickety little craft, intended
only for inland navigation, would have small chance of living through
the tumult. But his first care was to give a wide berth to the land and
the many French vessels that were moored or moving, whether belonging
to the great flotilla, or hastening to supply its wants. Many a time he
would have stood forth boldly, as fast as the breeze and tide permitted;
but no sooner had he shaped a course for the open sea than some hostile
sail appeared ahead and forced him to bear away until she was far
onward. Thus, after a long day