was pushed towards
the boat. With all the spirit of Spain in her rotting body she flashed
triumphant glances on her captors. "Perros! Perros Ingleses! Lepero,
Lepero!" she cried in exultation, as they thrust her over into the boat.

"Good luck, captain! God speed you on your honeymoon!" cried a chorus of
mocking voices, as the painter was unloosed, and _The Happy Delivery_,
running full before the trade-wind, left the little boat astern, a tiny
dot upon the vast expanse of the lonely sea.

Extract from the log of H.M. fifty-gun ship _Hecate_ in her cruise off
the American Main.

"Jan. 26, 1721.--This day, the junk having become unfit for food, and
five of the crew down with scurvy, I ordered that we send two boats
ashore at the nor'-western point of Hispaniola, to seek for fresh fruit,
and perchance shoot some of the wild oxen with which the island abounds.

"7 p.m.--The boats have returned with good store of green stuff and two
bullocks. Mr. Woodruff, the master, reports that near the landing-place
at the edge of the forest was found the skeleton of a woman, clad in
European dress, of such sort as to show that she may have been a person
of quality. Her head had been crushed by a great stone which lay beside
her. Hard by was a grass hut, and signs that a man had dwelt therein for
some time, as was shown by charred wood, bones and other traces. There
is a rumour upon the coast that Sharkey, the bloody pirate, was marooned
in these parts last year, but whether he has made his way into the
interior, or whether he has been picked up by some craft, there is no
means of knowing. If he be once again afloat, then I pray that God send
him under our guns."

THE MARRIAGE OF THE BRIGADIER

I am speaking, my friends, of days which are long gone by, when I had
scarcely begun to build up that fame which has made my name so familiar.
Among the thirty officers of the Hussars of Conflans there was nothing
to indicate that I was superior in any way to the others. I can well
imagine how surprised they would all have been had they realized that
young Lieutenant Etienne Gerard was destined for so glorious a career,
and would live to command a brigade and to receive from the Emperor's
own hands that cross which I can show you any time that you do me the
honour to visit me in my little cottage. You know, do you not, the
little white-washed cottage with the vine in front, in the field beside
the Garonne?

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