he rocks. The boat flew to pieces; the
man clung to the rock, and all the people cried out: 'He is lost!' His
father was there, his two brothers were there, but none dared to succor
him. I raised my arms to the Lord and said: 'If Milliere is condemned by
Thee as by me, O God, let me save that man; with no help but thine let
me save him!' I stripped, I knotted a rope around my arm, and I swam to
the rock. The water seemed to subside before my breast. I reached the
man. His father and brothers held the rope. He gained the land. I could
have returned as he did, fastening the rope to the rocks. I flung it
away from me; I trusted to God and cast myself into the waves. They
floated me gently and surely to the shore, even as the waters of the
Nile bore Moses' basket to Pharaoh's daughter. The enemy's outposts were
stationed around the village of Saint-Nolf; I was hidden in the woods of
Grandchamp with fifty men. Recommending my soul to God, I left the woods
alone. 'Lord God,' I said, 'if it be Thy will that Milliere die, let
that sentry fire upon me and miss me; then I will return to my men and
leave that sentry unharmed, for Thou wilt have been with him for an
instant.' I walked to the Republican; at twenty paces he fired and
missed me. Here is the hole in my hat, an inch from my head; the hand
of God had aimed that weapon. That happened yesterday. I thought that
Milliere was at Nantes. To-night they came and told me that Milliere and
his guillotine were at La Roche-Bernard. Then I said: 'God has brought
him to me; he shall die.'"

Roland listened with a certain respect to the superstitious narrative
of the Breton leader. He was not surprised to find such beliefs and such
poetry in a man born in face of a savage sea, among the Druid monuments
of Karnac. He realized that Milliere was indeed condemned, and that God,
who had thrice seemed to approve his judgment, alone could save him. But
one last question occurred to him.

"How will you strike him?" he asked.

"Oh!" said Georges, "I do not trouble myself about that; he will be
executed."

One of the two men who had brought in the supper table now entered the
room.

"Brise-Bleu," said Cadoudal, "tell Coeur-de-Roi that I wish to speak to
him."

Two minutes later the Breton presented himself.

"Coeur-de-Roi," said Cadoudal, "did you not tell me that the murderer
Thomas Milliere was at Roche-Bernard?"

"I saw him enter the town side by side with the Republican colonel, wh