He had scarcely spoken when, lifted upon a wave, the tartane dashed upon the rocks, and there was at once a horrible shivering and crashing throughout her—­a frightful mingling of shrieks and yells of despair with the wild roar of the waves that poured over her.  The party at the head of the vessel were conscious of clinging to something, and when the first burly-burly ceased a little they found themselves all together against the bulwark, the vessel almost on her beam ends, wedged into the rocks, their portion high and dry, but the stern, where the cabin was, entirely under water.

Victorine screamed aloud, ‘My lady! my poor lady.’

‘I see—­I see something,’ cried Arthur, who had already thrown off his coat, and in another moment he had brought up Estelle in his arms, alive, sobbing and panting.  Giving her over to the steward, he made another dive, but then was lost sight of, and returned no more, nor was anything to be seen of the rest.  Shut up in the cabin, Madame de Bourke, Ulysse, and the three maids must have been instantly drowned, and none of the crew were to be seen.  Maitre Hebert hold the little girl in his arms, glad that, though living, she was only half-conscious.  Victorine, sobbing, hung heavily on Lanty, and before he could free his hands he perceived to his dismay that the Abbe, unassisted, was climbing down from the wreck upon the rock, scarcely perhaps aware of his danger.

Lanty tried to put Victorine aside, and called out, ’Your reverence, wait—­Masther Phelim, wait till I come and help you.’  But the girl, frantic with terror, grappled him fast, screaming to him not to let her go—­and at the same moment a wave broke over the Abbe.  Lanty, almost wild, was ready to leap into it after him, thinking he must be sucked back with it, but behold! he still remained clinging to the rock.  Instinct seemed to serve him, for he had stuck his knife into the rock and was holding on by it.  There seemed no foothold, and while Lanty was deliberating how to go to his assistance, another wave washed him off and bore him to the next rock, which was only separated from the mainland by a channel of smoother water.  He tried to catch at a floating plank, but in vain; however, an oar next drifted towards him, and by it he gained the land, but only to be instantly surrounded by a mob of Cabeleyzes, who seemed to be stripping off his garments.  By this time many were swimming towards the wreck; and Estelle, who had recovered breath and senses, looked over Hebert’s shoulder at them.  ‘The savages! the infidels!’ she said.  ’Will they kill me? or will they try to make me renounce my faith?  They shall kill me rather than make me yield.’

’Ah! yes, my dear demoiselle, that is right.  That is the only way.  It is my resolution likewise,’ returned Hebert.  ’God give us grace to persist.’

‘My mamma said so,’ repeated the child.  ’Is she drowned, Maitre Hebert?’

‘She is happier than we are, my dear young lady.’