r office.' Obediently
the Abbe fell on his knees, and his example was followed by the others.
His voice went monotonously on throughout with the Latin. The lady, no
doubt, followed in her heart, and she made the responses as did the
others, fitfully; but her hands and eyes were busy, looking to the
priming of two small pistols, which she took out of her jewel case, and
the sight of which provoked fresh shrieks from the maids. Mademoiselle
Julienne meantime was dressing Ulysse, and standing guard over him,
Estelle watching all with eager bright eyes, scarcely frightened, but
burning to ask questions, from which her uncle's prayers debarred her.

At the volley of shot, Rosette was reduced to quiet by a swoon, but
Victorine, screaming that the wretches would have killed Laurent, would
have rushed on deck, had not her mistress forcibly withheld her. There
ensued a prodigious yelling and howling, trampling and scuffling, then
the sounds of strange languages in vituperation or command, steps coming
down the ladder, sounds of altercation, retreat, splashes in the sea, the
feeling that the ship was put about--and ever the trampling, the wild
cries of exultation, which over and over again made the prisoners feel
choked with the horror of some frightful crisis close at hand. And all
the time they were in ignorance, their little window in the stern showed
them nothing but sea; and even if Madame de Bourke's determination had
not hindered Victorine from peeping out of the cabin, whether prison or
fortress, the Moorish sentries outside kept the door closed.

How long this continued was scarcely to be guessed. It was hours by
their own feelings; Ulysse began to cry from hunger, and his mother gave
him and Estelle some cakes that were within reach. Mademoiselle Julienne
begged her lady to share the repast, reminding her that she would need
all her strength. The Abbe, too, was hungry enough, and some wine and
preserved fruits coming to light all the prisoners made a meal which
heartened most of them considerably; although the heat was becoming
terrible, as the sun rose higher in the sky, and very little air could be
obtained through the window, so that poor Julienne could not eat, and
Rosette fell into a heavy sleep in the midst of her sighs. Even Estelle,
who had got out her Telemaque, like a sort of oracle in the course of
being verified, was asleep over it, when fresh noises and grating sounds
were board, new steps on deck,