ower. Still their patience
had to be tried. Something was keeping Le Duc.

At last they saw a figure coming towards the tower. Perhaps it was not
Le Duc. If a stranger, they must stop his mouth. Perhaps they might
have to bind him. They could cut off a sufficient length of rope for
the purpose.

He appeared to be a peasant wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a shirt,
with a long stick or ox-goad in his hand. They were so well concealed,
crouching down against the wall, that he did not perceive them.

Rayner and Brown were on the point of springing out to seize him, when
he said, in a low whisper, "Don't you know me, friends? Follow me, but
bend down as low as you can, that if seen from the house you may be
taken for my dogs or sheep. Pardon me for saying so."

"No necessity for that; lead on, we will follow," said Rayner.

Walking upright, staff in hand, he proceeded at a good rate across the
open space at the back of the village. They could see the lights
glimmering from several houses on its borders.

They soon reached a stream with a long wooden bridge thrown over it.
Here, as they would be exposed to view, the sooner they could get across
it the better. They hurried over, still stooping down, Le Duc walking
erect. At last their backs began to ache from remaining so long in a
bent position.

They were thankful when they reached the edge of a plantation, and Le
Duc, stopping, said, "You have acted admirably, my friends. Come on a
little farther to a spot where we shall find some clothes in which you
can disguise yourselves. We can get over some leagues before daylight,
and the inhabitants we shall then meet with are all blacks, and being
very stupid will not discover that you are English, provided those who
do not speak French hold their tongues."

"A very right precaution," said Rayner. After he had thanked Le Duc for
his exertions, he added, "Remember, Brown and Fletcher, neither of you
attempt to open your mouths except to put food into them. If you are
spoken to, make off, or pretend that you are deaf and dumb."

After proceeding another mile or so, they reached a solitary hut,
partially in ruins. Le Duc here produced five bundles from behind a
heap of rubbish, covered over with bushes.

"These I brought by the desire of Madame La Roche," he said. "She and
her daughters, and their black girls, and old Francois, worked away very
hard to get them finished. They began the very moment you and