De Catinat gripped the line which was thrown to him, and on drawing it up found that it was attached to a rope ladder furnished at the top with two steel hooks to catch on to the bulwarks.  He placed them in position, and then made his way very softly to the cabin amidships in the ladies’ quarters which had been allotted to his wife.  She was the only woman aboard the ship now, so that he was able to tap at her door in safety, and to explain in a few words the need for haste and for secrecy.  In ten minutes Adele had dressed, and with her valuables in a little bundle, had slipped out from her cabin.  Together they made their way upon deck once more, and crept aft under the shadow of the bulwarks.  They were almost there when De Catinat stopped suddenly and ground out an oath through his clenched teeth.  Between them and the rope ladder there was standing in a dim patch of murky light the grim figure of a Franciscan friar.  He was peering through the darkness, his heavy cowl shadowing his face, and he advanced slowly as if he had caught a glimpse of them.  A lantern hung from the mizzen shrouds above him.  He unfastened it and held it up to cast its light upon them.

But De Catinat was not a man with whom it was safe to trifle.  His life had been one of quick resolve and prompt action.  Was this vindictive friar at the last moment to stand between him and freedom?  It was a dangerous position to take.  The guardsman pulled Adele into the shadow of the mast, and then, as the monk advanced, he sprang out upon him and seized him by the gown.  As he did so the other’s cowl was pushed back, and instead of the harsh features of the ecclesiastic, De Catinat saw with amazement in the glimmer of the lantern the shrewd gray eyes and strong tern face of Ephraim Savage.  At the same instant mother figure appeared over the side, and the warm-hearted Frenchman threw himself into the arms of Amos Green.

“It’s all right,” said the young hunter, disengaging himself with some embarrassment from the other’s embrace.

“We’ve got him in the boat with a buckskin glove jammed into his gullet!”

“Who then?”

“The man whose cloak Captain Ephraim there has put round him.  He came on us when you were away rousing your lady, but we got him to be quiet between us.  Is the lady there?”

“Here she is.”

“As quick as you can, then, for some one may come along.”

Adele was helped over the side, and seated in the stern of a birch-bark canoe.  The three men unhooked the ladder, and swung themselves down by a rope, while two Indians, who held the paddles, pushed silently off from the ship’s side, and shot swiftly up the stream.  A minute later a dim loom behind them, and the glimmer of two yellow lights, was all that they could see of the St. Christophe.

“Take a paddle, Amos, and I’ll take one,” said Captain Savage, stripping off his monk’s gown.  “I felt safer in this on the deck of yon ship, but it don’t help in a boat.  I believe we might have fastened the hatches and taken her, brass guns and all, had we been so minded.”