-not to the east.

He distinguished the cry from the Genoese sailors, '_Ii Moro--Il Moro_,'
in tones of horror and consternation, and almost at the same moment
received a shock from Maitre Hebert, who came stumbling against him.

'Pardon, pardon, Monsieur; I go to prepare Madame! It's the accursed
Moors. Let me pass--_misericorde_, what will become of us?'

Arthur struggled on in search of such of the crew as could speak French,
but all were in too much consternation to attend to him, and he could
only watch that to which their eyes were directed, a white sail, bright
in the morning light, coming up with a rapidity strange and fearful in
its precision, like a hawk pouncing on its prey, for it did not depend on
its sails alone, but was propelled by oars.

The next moment Madame de Bourke was on deck, holding by the Abbe's arm,
and Estelle, her hair on her shoulders, clinging to her. She looked very
pale, but her calmness was in contrast to the Italian sailors, who were
throwing themselves with gestures of despair, screaming out vows to the
Madonna and saints, and shouting imprecations. The skipper came to speak
to her. 'Madame,' he said, 'I implore you to remain in your cabin. After
the first, you and all yours will be safe. They cannot harm a French
subject; alas! alas would it were so with us.'

'How then will it be with you?' she asked.

He made a gesture of deprecation.

'For me it will be ruin; for my poor fellows slavery; that is, if we
survive the onset. Madame, I entreat of you, take shelter in the cabin,
yourself and all yours. None can answer for what the first rush of these
fiends may be! _Diavoli_! _veri diavola_! Ah! for which of my sins is
it that after fifty voyages I should be condemned to lose my all?'

A fresh outburst of screams from the crew summoned the captain. 'They
are putting out the long-boat,' was the cry; 'they will board us!'

'Madame! I entreat of you, shut yourself into the cabin.'

And the four maids in various stages of _deshabille_, adding their cries
to those of the sailors, tried to drag her in, but she looked about for
Arthur. 'Come with us, Monsieur,' she said quietly, for after all her
previous depressions and alarms, her spirit rose to endurance in the
actual stress of danger. 'Come with us, I entreat of you,' she said.
'You are named in our passports, and the treaties are such that neither
French nor English subjects can be maltreated nor enslaved by these