es," said Vince boldly; "I want my breakfast very badly."

"Aha, yaas; and _votre ami_, he vill vant his. You do not runs avay?"

"Not till after breakfast," said Vince, smiling.

"No? Dat is good. You are von brave. Zen ve vill put avay ze carving
knife and not have out ze pistol. _En avant_! You know ze vay to ze
_salle-a-manger_. You talk ze Francais, bose of you. Aha?"

"I can understand that," said Vince. "So can he. _N'est-ce pas_,
Mike?"

A short nod was given in response, and the French captain clapped them
both on the shoulders, gripping them firmly and urging them along.

"It is good," he said. "I am so _bien aise_ to see my younger friend.
Up vis you!"

"Come along, Mike," said Vince, in a low voice; "it's all right."

Mike did not seem to think so, but he followed Vince up the rope into
the fissure, after one of the armed men; the captain came next, and he
kept on talking in his bantering tone as they crept along the awkward
rift.

"Vairy clever; vairy good!" he cried. "I see you know ze vay. It is
_magnifique_. You see, I find I have visitor, and zey do not know ven
ze _dejeuner_ is _pret_, so I am oblige to make one leetle--vat you call
it--trap-springe, and catch ze leetle bird."

A rope was ready at the other end of the fissure, and as Vince dropped
down it was into the presence of half a dozen more men, while in the
rapid glance that he cast round, the boy saw that a boat was drawn up on
the sand and a fire of wood was burning close down to the water's edge.
Vince noticed, too, that one of the men who followed stopped back by the
rope, with his drawn cutlass carried military fashion; and his action
gave a pretty good proof that everything had been carefully planned
beforehand in connection with the "trap-springe," as the Frenchman
called it.

Preparations had already been made for breakfast, one of the men acting
as cook; and in a short time kegs were stood on end round a beautifully
clean white tablecloth spread upon the soft sand; excellent coffee, good
bread-and-butter, and fried mackerel were placed before them, and the
French captain presided.

The boys felt exceedingly nervous and uncomfortable, for they could see
plainly enough that their captor was playing with them, and acting a
part. They knew, too, that they were prisoners, and shivers of remorse
ran through them as the thought of the anxious ones at home kept
troubling them; but there was a masterfulness about th