Mons. Gallois had the rapacity of a highwayman, but it was singularly blended with French politeness.  He had not always been a privateersman—­a calling that implies an undue love of gold; and he was quite capable of distinguishing between right and wrong, in matters in which his own pocket had no direct concern.  As soon as he comprehended the affair, he began to laugh, and to cry “Bon!” I saw he was in a good humour, and not likely to resent what had happened; and I finished my history in somewhat sarcastic language, portraying Mons. Le Gros’s complaisance in quitting the ship and in piloting her about the bay, a little drily, perhaps.  There were sundry “sacr-r-r-es” and “betes” uttered the while; but all came out freely and without anger, as if Mons. Gallois thought a good joke the next thing to a good prize.

“Tenez, mon ami!” he cried, squeezing my hand, as he looked round at the corvette, now less than a league distant.  “You are vat you Anglais call ‘good fellow.’ J’admire votre esprit! You have escape admirablement, and I shall have vifs regrets now to ’ave opportunite to cultiver votre connaissance.  Mais, I most laafs,—­mille pardons,—­you ave non too moch peep’s, mais c’est impossible d’abandonner mes compatriots.  Allons, mes enfants; au canot.”

This was the signal for the French to quit us; the three men I had shipped taking their departure without ceremony.  Mons. Gallois was the last in the boat, of course; and he found time to squeeze my hand once more, and to renew his “vifs regrets” at not having more leisure to cultivate my acquaintance.  The corvette was already so near, as to render it necessary for the Polisson to be in motion; another time, perhaps, we might be more fortunate.

In this manner did I part from a man who had not scrupled to seize me in distress, as he would a waif on a beach.  By manning me, the prize-crew would have fallen into the hands of the enemy; and, making a merit of necessity, Mons. Gallois was disposed to be civil to those whom he could not rob.  Odd as it may seem, I felt the influence of this manner, to a degree that almost reconciled me to the act before committed, although the last was just as profligate and illegal as any that could well be committed.  Of so much more importance, with the majority of men, is manner than matter; a very limited few alone knowing how to give to the last its just ascendency.

The Polisson was not long in gathering way, after her boat was hoisted in.  She passed, on the crest of a wave, so near, that it was easy to distinguish the expressions of her people’s faces, few of which discovered the equanimity of that of their commander’s; and to hear the incessant gabbling that was kept up on board her, day and night, from “morn ’till dewy eve.”  M. Gallois bowed complaisantly, and he smiled as amiably as if he never had put a hand in another man’s pocket; but his glass was immediately turned towards the corvette, which now began to give him some little uneasiness.  Manning us, indeed, with that fellow surging ahead at the rate he was, would have been quite out of the question.