n, startled. 'One would think the brute
would have remained satisfied with pushing me into the water. But I will
make him repent,' he added, in a threatening tone. 'My father will not
let him off easily.'

'He doesn't know any better,' said Estelle, gently.

'Spoken like the kind little Missie you are,' said Jack, with a smile.
'But we must not let him do any more mischief, all the same. He did not
mean to hit you with the stone. It is a good thing for me that it did
no more than graze my head; and for you, Missie, that it was not a
larger one.'

'In fact, Jack,' laughed Estelle, with a soft glance at him, 'we have
all something to be thankful for---- '

'And that is that we are all here to tell the tale,' added Julien,
rising from the folds of his blanket, and beginning to stamp about.
'Thomas also has to be thankful that we are not for the moment able to
hand him over to M. le Prefet. I suppose he will have escaped by the
time we get out of this.'

It was just this question which was tormenting the mind of the
ex-gardener. Would he be able to get out before Jack? He could not
imagine where the sailor had taken the children. The dim light of the
candle-ends had died out as Jack swam away with Estelle, and Thomas had
not as yet discovered the existence of the Treasure Cave. Only an eye
accustomed to look for the faint ray of light thrown upon the roof by
the glimmer from the lower cave could have detected where to seek the
ledge, which it was necessary to climb in order to reach the Treasure
Cave. All he could imagine, therefore, was that Jack had known of some
other, and probably wider, place of refuge than that on which he himself
had sought an escape from the waves. If this were so, it was more than
likely that in the attempt to escape as quickly as the tide permitted,
an encounter between him and Jack would take place. The bare suggestion
excited Thomas uncomfortably. Over and over again did his mind ponder on
the best plan to avoid such a meeting. Should he remain where he was
till the sailor and the child had gone? But how would he be able to
judge of their departure? It was totally dark, and as Jack must be in as
drenched a condition as himself, no matches he might carry about him
could be ignited. The escape must be made in the dark.

No, Thomas could run no risks of that sort. He made up his mind that as
soon as his ear--trained by a life-long residence on a rocky coast--told
him the sea was leaving the