g them, their terror rose
again. They remembered snatches of conversation and grim jests uttered
by the Marats in Le Bouffay, which suddenly became clear, and the alarm
spreading amongst them, they writhed and clamoured, screamed for mercy,
cursed and raved.

Blows were showered upon them. In vain was it sought to quiet them again
with that fable of a fort to be constructed on Belle Isle. One of them
in a frenzy of despair tore himself free of his bonds, profited by a
moment of confusion, and vanished so thoroughly that Grandmaison and
his men lost a quarter of an hour seeking him in vain, and would have
so spent the remainder of the night but for a sharp word from a man in
a greatcoat and a round hat who stood looking on in conversation with
Goullin.

"Get on, man! Never mind that one! We'll have him later. It will be
daylight soon. You've wasted time enough already."

It was Carrier.

He had come in person to see the execution of his orders, and at his
command Grandmaison now proceeded to the loading. A ladder was set
against the side of the lighter by which the prisoners were to descend.
The cords binding them in chains were now severed, and they were left
pinioned only by the wrists. They were ordered to embark. But as
they were slow to obey, and as some, indeed, hung back wailing and
interceding, he and Jolly took them by their collars, thrust them to the
edge, and bundled them neck and crop down into the hold, recking nothing
of broken limbs. Finding this method of embarkation more expeditious,
the use of the ladder was neglected thenceforth.

Among the last to be thus flung aboard was our cocassier Leroy. He fell
soft upon a heaving, writhing mass of humanity, which only gradually
shook down and sorted itself out on the bottom of the lighter when the
hatches overhead were being nailed down. Yet by an odd chance the young
Capuchin and Leroy, who had been companions in the chain, were not
separated even now. Amid the human welter in that agitated place of
darkness, the cries and wails that rang around him, Leroy recognized the
voice of the young friar exhorting them to prayer.

They were in the stern of the vessel, against one of the sides, and
Leroy, who still kept a grip on the wits by which he had lived, bade the
Capuchin hold up his wrists. Then he went nosing like a dog, until at
last he found them, and his strong teeth fastened upon the cord that
bound them, and began with infinite patience to gnaw it