th
unrelenting rancour, and succeeds in assassinating their friend and
his uncle, Lord de Winter, the four guardsmen embark on board a small
vessel to return to France. Mordaunt discovers this, gets the captain
and crew out of the way, replaces them by one Groslow and other
creatures of his own, and conceals himself on board. His plan is, so
soon as the vessel is a short distance out at sea, to escape in a boat
with his confederates, after firing a train communicating with some
barrels of powder in the hold. There is some improbability in this
part of the story; but gunpowder plots have special privilege of
absurdity. The guardsmen, however, discover the mischief that is
brewing against them, just in time to escape through the cabin
windows, and swim off to the boat, which is towing astern.

Scarcely had D'Artagnan cut the rope that attached the boat to the
ship, when a shrill whistle was heard proceeding from the latter,
which, as it moved on whilst the boat remained stationary, was already
beginning to be lost to view in the darkness. At the same moment a
lantern was brought upon deck, and lit up the figures of the crew.
Suddenly a great outcry was heard; and just then the clouds that
covered the heavens split and parted, and the silver light of the moon
fell upon the white sails and dark rigging of the vessel. Persons were
seen running about the deck in bewilderment and confusion; and
Mordaunt himself, carrying a torch in his hand, appeared upon the
poop.

At the appointed hour, Groslow had collected his men, and Mordaunt,
after listening at the door of the cabin, and concluding from the
silence which reigned that his intended victims were buried in sleep,
had hurried to the powder barrels and set fire to the train. Whilst he
was doing this, Groslow and his sailors were preparing to leave the
ship.

"Haul in the rope," said the former, "and bring the boat along-side."

One of the sailors seized the rope and pulled it. It came to him
without resistance.

"The cable is cut!" exclaimed the man; "the boat is gone."

"The boat gone!" repeated Groslow; "impossible!"

"It is nevertheless true," returned the sailor. "See here; nothing in
our wake, and here is the end of the rope."

It was then that Groslow uttered the cry which the guardsmen heard
from their boat.

"What is the matter?" demanded Mordaunt, emerging from the hatchway,
his torch in his hand, and rushing towards the stern.

"The matter is, that you