ften find in the sand fragments of
gold and silver jewelry, brought into the Seine either by the sewers
which are washed by the stream, or by the masses of snow or ice
collected in the streets, and which are cast into the river. We do not
know by what tradition or custom these persons, usually honest and
industrious, are called by a name so formidable. Martial, the father,
the first inhabitant of this islet, being a _ravageur_ (and a sad
exception to his comrades), the inhabitants of the river's banks called
it the Ile du Ravageur.

The dwelling of these freshwater pirates was placed at the southern end
of the island. In daytime there was visible, on a sign-board over the
door:

"AU RENDEZVOUS DES RAVAGEURS.
GOOD WINE, GOOD EELS, AND FRIED FISH.
BOATS LET BY THE DAY OR HOUR."

We thus see that the head of this depraved family added to his visible
or hidden pursuits those of a public-house keeper, fisherman, and
letter of boats. The felon's widow continued to keep the house, and
reprobates, vagrants, escaped convicts, wandering wild-beast showmen,
and scamps of every description came there to pass Sundays and other
days not marked with a red letter in the calendar, in parties of
pleasure. Martial (La Louve's lover), the eldest son of the family, the
least guilty of all the family, was a river poacher, and now and then,
as a real champion, and for money paid, took the part of the weak
against the strong. One of his brothers, Nicholas, the intended
accomplice of Barbillon in the murder of the jewel-matcher, was in
appearance a _ravageur_, but really a freshwater pirate in the Seine and
its banks. Francois, the youngest son of the executed felon, rowed
visitors who wished to go on the river in a boat. We have alluded to
Ambroise Martial, condemned to the galleys for burglary at night with
attempt to murder. The eldest daughter, nicknamed Calabash
(_Calebasse_), helped her mother in the kitchen, and waited on the
company. Her sister, Amandine, nine years of age, was also employed in
the house according to her years and strength.

At the period in question it was a dull night out of doors; heavy, gray,
opaque clouds, driven by the wind, showed here and there in the midst of
their openings a few patches of dark blue spotted with stars. The
outline of the islet, bordered by high and ragged poplars, was strongly
and darkly defined in the clear haze of the sky and in the white
transparency of the riv