The two men, who by their clothing were easily seen to be European
sailors, pressing their caps more securely on their heads, sprang
overboard and boldly struck out for the shore while their companions
turned at the edge of this calm, regained the open, and disappeared
after having braved anew the fury of the mountainous waves with
wonderful skill.

During this time the two intrepid swimmers, by turn submerged or cast up
from the midst of the enormous waves which they adroitly traversed,
arrived at the foot of the rocks in the center of a sea of foam. They
appeared to be rushing upon certain death, and it looked as if they
would be dashed to pieces upon the reefs. Nothing of the sort occurred,
however. These two men seemed to perfectly understand the coast; they
directed their course toward a place where the violence of the waves had
hollowed out a natural grotto.

The waves, engulphing themselves under this roof with a horrible din
fell back from it in a cataract into a smaller basin, hollow and deep.
After some heavy undulations, the waves grew feebler; in the center of a
gigantic cavern formed a little subterranean lake which, when full,
returned to the sea by some hidden channel.

It required great temerity to so abandon themselves to the impulse of
these furious waves which precipitated them into the abyss; but this
momentary submersion was more frightful than dangerous; the mouth of
the cave was so large that there was no danger of being bruised by the
rocks, and the cloud of foam threw them into the midst of a peaceful
pond, surrounded by a fine, sandy beach.

Sifting through the fall of water which bubbled at the entrance of this
enormous roof, the light was feeble, soft, and bluish like that of the
moon.

The two swimmers, breathless, deafened and wounded by the shook of the
waves, emerged from the little lake and stretched themselves on the
sand, where they rested for some time.

The larger of these two men, though he was dressed like a common sailor,
was Colonel Rutler, a stanch partisan of the new King of England,
William of Orange, under whose orders he had served when the son-in-law
of the unfortunate James II. was only a stadtholder of Holland. Colonel
Rutler was robust and tall; his face wore an expression of audacity,
bordering on cruelty; his hair, lying in close, damp meshes, was of a
deep red; his mustache of the same color hid a large mouth overshadowed
by a hooked nose, resembling the beak o