ral's galley formed the point. Joyeuse himself had taken
his first lieutenant's place, and was leaning over the bowsprit, trying
to pierce the fogs of the river and the darkness of the night. Soon,
through this double obscurity, he saw the pier extending itself darkly
across the stream; it appeared deserted, but, in that land of ambushes,
there seemed something terrifying in this desertion.

However, they continued to advance, and soon were within sight of the
barrier, scarcely ten cable lengths off; they approached nearer and
nearer, and yet not a single "qui vive!" struck on their ears.

The sailors only saw in this silence a carelessness which rejoiced them;
but their young admiral, more far-seeing, feared some ruse. At last the
prow of the admiral's ship touched the two ships which formed the center
of the barrier, and made the whole line, which was fastened together by
chains, tremble.

Suddenly, as the bearers of the hatchets received the order to board and
cut the chains, a crowd of grappling irons, thrown by invisible hands,
seized hold of the French vessels. The Flemings had forestalled the
intended movement of the French. Joyeuse believed that his enemies were
offering him a mortal combat, and he accepted it with alacrity. He also
threw grappling irons, and the two lines of ships were firmly bound
together. Then, seizing a hatchet, he was the first to jump on a ship,
crying, "Board them! board them!" All his crew followed him, officers
and men, uttering the same cry; but no cry replied to them, no force
opposed their advance.

Only they saw three boats full of men gliding silently over the water,
like three sea-birds.

The assailants rested motionless on the ships which they had conquered
without a struggle.

All at once Joyeuse heard under his feet a crackling sound, and a smell
of sulphur filled the air. A thought crossed his mind, and he ran and
opened a hatchway; the vessel was burning. A cry of, "To our ships!"
sounded through all the line. Each climbed back again more quickly than
he had come in; but Joyeuse, this time, was the last. Just as he reached
his galley, the flames burst out over the whole bridge of boats, like
twenty volcanoes, of which each ship or boat was the crater; the order
was instantly given to cut the ropes and break the chains and
grappling-irons, and the sailors worked with the rapidity of men who
knew that their safety depended on their exertions. But the work was
immense; p