these officers--both insensible from cold--were
pulled on board. Thinking they might have dispatches, I at once
started up the river; and when they were brought round, by the
surgeon, they stated that they were the Lieutenants Barclay,
bearers of dispatches from Tours."

"Gallantly done, gentlemen! Bravely done!" the general said warmly,
shaking both boys by the hand.

The burning heat of Percy's hand struck him, at once.

"Where are your dispatches, gentlemen? You have preserved them, I
hope?"

Ralph produced the two quills.

"They are duplicate, general," he said. "We each carried one, in
case any accident might befall one of us."

"Thank you," the general said. "I need now detain you no longer. I
have work here for all night, and you had better go instantly to
bed. Your brother is in a high state of fever."

He touched a bell, and an officer in waiting came in.

"Captain Bar, will you kindly take these gentlemen to a hotel, at
once. The horses are, as usual, in the carriage I suppose;
and,"--he dropped his voice--"send a message from me to request
Doctor Marcey to see them, at once. The younger one is in a state
of high fever."

In another quarter of an hour the boys were in comfortable beds, in
rooms adjoining each other. Ralph--who was heavy and stupid, with
the effects of the cold--was asleep almost the instant his head
touched the pillow. He was roused a short time afterwards by being
shaken and, opening his eyes, he saw someone leaning over him.

"Drink this," the gentleman said, holding a glass to his lips.

Ralph mechanically did as he was told; and fell off again into a
heavy sleep, from which he did not awake until late the next
afternoon.

His first impulse was to look at his watch. It had stopped at
eleven o'clock, the night before--the hour at which he had entered
the Seine. Then he rang the bell.

"What o'clock is it?" he asked, when the servant entered.

"Just struck five, sir."

"What, five in the afternoon?" Ralph exclaimed.

"Yes, sir."

"I have slept," Ralph said, with a laugh. "However, I feel all
right again, now.

"Is my brother up?"

"No, sir," the man said.

"Percy!" Ralph shouted, "It is five o'clock in the afternoon. Get
up."

"The other gentleman is not in the next room, sir," the servant
said.

"Is he not?" Ralph said, puzzled. "I was desperately sleepy last
night, certainly; but not too sleepy, I should have thought, to
have made a mistake about that. I fee