“Peace!” he roared.  “Huzza, boys!  Peace!”

And at that we both fell to dancing and shouting too; for it had been such a weary war as far back as we could remember, and the shadow had lain so long over us, that it was wondrous to feel that it was lifted.  Indeed it was too much to believe, but the Major laughed our doubts to scorn.

“Aye, aye, it is true,” he cried, stopping with his hand to his side.  “The Allies have got Paris, Boney has thrown up the sponge, and his people are all swearing allegiance to Louis XVIII.”

“And the Emperor?” I asked.  “Will they spare him?”

“There’s talk of sending him to Elba, where he’ll be out of mischief’s way.  But his officers, there are some of them who will not get off so lightly.  Deeds have been done during these last twenty years that have not been forgotten.  There are a few old scores to be settled.  But it’s Peace!  Peace!”

And away he went once more with his great tankard hopping round his bonfire.

Well, we stayed some time with the Major, and then away we went down to the beach, Jim and I, talking about this great news, and all that would come of it.  He knew a little, and I knew less, but we pieced it all together and talked about how the prices would come down, how our brave fellows would return home, how the ships could go where they would in peace, and how we could pull all the coast beacons down, for there was no enemy now to fear.  So we chatted as we walked along the clean, hard sand, and looked out at the old North Sea.  How little did Jim know at that moment, as he strode along by my side so full of health and of spirits, that he had reached the extreme summit of his life, and that from that hour all would, in truth, be upon the downward slope!

There was a little haze out to sea; for it had been very misty in the early morning, though the sun had thinned it.  As we looked seawards we suddenly saw the sail of a small boat break out through the fog, and come bobbing along towards the land.  A single man was seated in the sheets, and she yawed about as she ran, as though he were of two minds whether to beach her or no.  At last, determined it may be by our presence, he made straight for us, and her keel grated upon the shingle at our very feet.  He dropped his sail, sprang out, and pulled her bows up on the beach.

“Great Britain, I believe?” said he, turning briskly round and facing us.

He was a man somewhat above middle height, but exceedingly thin.  His eyes were piercing and set close together, a long sharp nose jutted out from between them, and beneath them was a bristle of brown moustache as wiry and stiff as a cat’s whiskers.  He was well dressed in a suit of brown with brass buttons, and he wore high boots which were all roughened and dulled by the sea water.  His face and hands were so dark that he might have been a Spaniard, but as he raised his hat to us we saw that the upper part of his brow was quite white and that it was from without that he had his swarthiness.  He looked from one to the other of us, and his grey eyes had something in them which I had never seen before.  You could read the question; but there seemed to be a menace at the back of it, as if the answer were a right and not a favour.