ft the beacon of the
Plattes Tougeres, representing a tub reversed; and to the right, the
beacon of St. Sampson, representing the face of a man. Between these
two, the fisherman thought that he perceived for the first time a third
beacon. What could be the meaning of this beacon? When had it been
erected on that point? What shoal did it indicate? The beacon responded
immediately to these interrogations. It moved, it was a mast. The
astonishment of the fisherman did not diminish. A beacon would have been
remarkable; a mast was still more so: it could not be a fishing-boat.
When everybody else was returning, some boat was going out. Who could it
be? and what was he about?

Ten minutes later the vessel, moving slowly, came within a short
distance of the Omptolle fisherman. He did not recognise it. He heard
the sound of rowing: there were evidently only two oars. There was
probably, then, only one man aboard. The wind was northerly. The man,
therefore, was evidently paddling along in order to take the wind off
Point Fontenelle. There he would probably take to his sails. He
intended then to double the Ancresse and Mount Crevel. What could that
mean?

The vessel passed, the fisherman returned home. On that same night, at
different hours, and at different points, various persons scattered and
isolated on the western coast of Guernsey, observed certain facts.

As the Omptolle fisherman was mooring his bark, a carter of seaweed
about half-a-mile off, whipping his horses along the lonely road from
the Clotures near the Druid stones, and in the neighbourhood of the
Martello Towers 6 and 7, saw far off at sea, in a part little
frequented, because it requires much knowledge of the waters, and in the
direction of North Rock and the Jablonneuse, a sail being hoisted. He
paid little attention to the circumstance, not being a seaman, but a
carter of seaweed.

Half-an-hour had perhaps elapsed since the carter had perceived this
vessel, when a plasterer returning from his work in the town, and
passing round Pelee Pool, found himself suddenly opposite a vessel
sailing boldly among the rocks of the Quenon, the Rousse de Mer, and the
Gripe de Rousse. The night was dark, but the sky was light over the sea,
an effect common enough; and he could distinguish a great distance in
every direction. There was no sail visible except this vessel.

A little lower, a gatherer of crayfish, preparing his fish wells on the
beach which separates Port S