'imprevu qui arrive_.'

'Then, Madame, that is the very reason there should be no misfortune,'
returned Arthur.

It was on the second day after the capture of the tartane that the sun
set in a purple angry-looking bank of cloud, and the sea began to heave
in a manner which renewed the earlier distresses of the voyage to such as
were bad sailors. The sails both of the corsair and of the tartane were
taken in, and it was plain that a rough night was to be expected. The
children were lashed into their berths, and all prepared themselves to
endure. The last time Arthur saw Madame de Bourke's face, by the light
of the lamp swinging furiously from the cabin roof, as he assisted in
putting in the dead lights, it bore the same fixed expression of
fortitude and resignation as when she was preparing to be boarded by the
pirates.

He remained on deck, but it was very perilous, for the vessel was so low
in the water that the waves dashed over it so wildly that he could hardly
help being swept away. It was pitch dark, too, and the lantern of the
other vessel could only just be seen, now high above their heads, now
sinking in the trouble of the sea, while the little tartane was lifted up
as though on a mountain; and in a kind of giddy dream, he thought of
falling headlong upon her deck. Finally he found himself falling. Was
he washed overboard? No; a sharp blow showed him that he had only fallen
down the hatchway, and after lying still a moment, he heard the voices of
Lanty and Hebert, and presently they were all tossed together by another
lurch of the ship.

It was a night of miseries that seemed endless, and when a certain amount
of light appeared, and Arthur and Lanty crawled upon deck, the tempest
was unabated. They found themselves still dashed, as if their vessel
were a mere cork, on the huge waves; rushes of water coming over them,
whether from sea or sky there was no knowing, for all seemed blended
together in one mass of dark lurid gray; and where was the Algerine
ship--so lately their great enemy, now watched for as their guide and
guardian?

It was no place nor time for questions, even could they have been heard
or understood. It was scarcely possible even to be heard by one another,
and it was some time before they convinced themselves that the large
vessel had disappeared. The cable must have parted in the night, and
they were running with bare poles before the gale; the seamanship of the
man at the helm