That question was answered in about two hours’ time by Tardif’s appearance at the house.  He lifted my little box on to his broad shoulders, and marched away with it, trying vainly to reduce his long strides into steps that would suit me, as I walked beside him.  I felt overjoyed that he was come.  So long as I was in Guernsey, when every morning I could see the arrival of the packet that had brought me, I could not shake off the fear that it was bringing some one in pursuit of me; but in Sark that would be all different.  Besides, I felt instinctively that this man would protect me, and take my part to the very utmost, should any circumstances arise that compelled me to appeal to him and trust him with my secret.  I knew nothing of him, but his face was stamped with God’s seal of trustworthiness, if ever a human face was.

A second man was in the boat when we reached it, and it looked well laden.  Tardif made a comfortable seat for me amid the packages, and then the sails were unfurled, and we were off quickly out of the harbor and on the open sea.

A low, westerly wind was blowing, and fell upon the sails with a strong and equal pressure.  We rode before it rapidly, skimming over the low, crested waves almost without a motion.  Never before had I felt so perfectly secure upon the water.  Now I could breathe freely, with the sense of assured safety growing stronger every moment as the coast of Guernsey receded on the horizon, and the rocky little island grew nearer.  As we approached it no landing-place was to be seen, no beach or strand.  An iron-bound coast of sharp and rugged crags confronted us, which it seemed impossible to scale.  At last we cast anchor at the foot of a great cliff, rising sheer out of the sea, where a ladder hung down the face of the rock for a few feet.  A wilder or lonelier place I had never seen.  Nobody could pursue and surprise me here.

The boatman who was with us climbed up the ladder, and, kneeling down, stretched out his hand to help me, while Tardif stood waiting to hold me steadily on the damp and slippery rungs.  For a moment I hesitated, and looked round at the crags, and the tossing, restless sea.

“I could carry you through the water, mam’zelle,” said Tardif, pointing to a hand’s breadth of shingle lying between the rocks, “but you will get wet.  It will be better for you to mount up here.”

I fastened both of my hands tightly round one of the upper rungs, before lifting my feet from the unsteady prow of the boat.  But the ladder once climbed, the rest of the ascent was easy.  I walked on up a zigzag path, cut in the face of the cliff, until I gained the summit, and sat down to wait for Tardif and his comrade.  I could not have fled to a securer hiding-place.  So long as my money held out, I might live as peacefully and safely as any fugitive had ever lived.