HOW AN IDLER HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO BE SEEN BY A FISHERMAN

On that very night, at the moment when the wind abated, Gilliatt had
gone out with his nets, without, however, taking his famous old Dutch
boat too far from the coast.

As he was returning with the rising tide, towards two o'clock in the
afternoon, the sun was shining brightly, and he passed before the
Beast's Horn to reach the little bay of the Bu de la Rue. At that moment
he fancied that he saw, in the projection of the "Gild-Holm-'Ur" seat a
shadow, which was not that of the rock. He steered his vessel nearer,
and was able to perceive a man sitting in the "Gild-Holm-'Ur." The sea
was already very high, the rock encircled by the waves, and escape
entirely cut off. Gilliatt made signs to the man. The stranger remained
motionless. Gilliatt drew nearer; the man was asleep.

He was attired in black. "He looks like a priest," thought Gilliatt. He
approached still nearer, and could distinguish the face of a young man.

The features were unknown to him.

The rock, happily, was peaked; there was a good depth. Gilliatt wore
off, and succeeded in skirting the rocky wall. The tide raised the bark
so high that Gilliatt, by standing upon the gunwale of the sloop, could
touch the man's feet. He raised himself upon the planking, and stretched
out his hands. If he had fallen at that moment, it is doubtful if he
would have risen again on the water; the waves were rolling in between
the boat and the rock, and destruction would have been inevitable. He
pulled the foot of the sleeping man. "Ho! there. What are you doing in
this place?"

The man aroused, and muttered--

"I was looking about."

He was now completely awake, and continued--

"I have just arrived in this part. I came this way on a pleasure trip. I
have passed the night on the sea: the view from here seemed beautiful. I
was weary, and fell asleep."

"Ten minutes later, and you would have been drowned."

"Ha!"

"Jump into my bark."

Gilliatt kept the bark fast with his foot, clutched the rock with one
hand, and stretched out the other to the stranger in black, who sprang
quickly into the boat. He was a fine young man.

Gilliatt seized the tiller, and in two minutes his boat entered the bay
of the Bu de la Rue.

The young man wore a round hat and a white cravat; and his long black
frock-coat was buttoned up to the neck. He had fair hair, which he wore
_en couronne_. He had a somewhat feminine cast