"Let the raft be moored close to the sh.o.r.e, just in its present state,"

said the officer; "the general may wish to see it. How could the lads have contrived to build such a machine?"

The commander of the boat explained that a wreck had occurred on the sh.o.r.e, and that they had evidently built it from the materials they found on board her, but anything further about them he could not say.

"Well, then, I'll take them up at once to the general, and the interpreter attached to our division will draw from them all we want to know. Come, lads! you must follow me," he said. "Sergeant, bring the prisoners along with you."

On this Jack and Bill found themselves surrounded by the soldiers; and thinking it possible, should they not move fast enough, that their movements might be expedited by a p.r.i.c.k from the bayonets, they marched briskly forward, keeping good pace with the men.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

AGAIN SHUT UP.

"I say, Bill, I wonder what the mounseers are going to do with us,"

whispered Jack, as they marched along. "Will they put handcuffs on our wrists and throw us into a dungeon, do you think?"

Bill acknowledged that he feared such might be the fate prepared for them. They were not, however, ill-treated during their walk. Naturally they felt very much disappointed at being recaptured, but they tried as before to put as bold a face as they could on the matter, and talked away to each other in an apparently unconcerned manner.

They found from the remarks of the soldiers that they had a march of a couple of miles or more inland to the place where the troops were encamped, and that they were not to be carried to the old tower.

On one account they were sorry for this, as, having made their escape once, they thought that they might make it again, though, of course, they would be more strictly guarded if it was discovered who they were.

From a height they reached they saw the camp spread out on a wide level s.p.a.ce a short distance off. As they got nearer to it they observed a party of officers on horseback riding towards them, one of whom, from the waving plume in his hat, and from his taking the lead, they supposed was the general.

They were right in their conjecture. As he approached with his staff, the officer who had charge of them ordered his men to halt and draw on one side.

The general reined in his horse and inquired who they were.

The captain explained that two foreign lads, supposed to be English, had been discovered, endeavouring to leave the sh.o.r.e on a small raft of curious construction, such as no sane people would have wished to go to sea on; that there was something very suspicious about their movements, as they had persisted in trying to escape, although fired at by the soldiers, and that he had considered it his duty to bring them up for examination, as he could not understand them or make them understand him.

"You acted rightly, Captain Dupont," said the general. "Let them be brought to my quarters, and I'll send for Colonel O'Toole to cross-question them." Bill and Jack understood every word that was said. "We are in for it," said Bill; "but we must put a bold face on the matter, and speak the truth. We can say that we were living in the cavern for some time, and that when the brig was wrecked, we resolved at once to build a raft, and get back to our own country."

"It would save a great deal of trouble if we were to say that we were wrecked in the brig, and then it would be but natural that we should try to escape from her," replied Jack.

"It would not be the truth, and we should not be believed," answered Bill. "I would say just what happened--that our ship caught fire and blew up, that we were saved by the fishermen, that some French soldiers got hold of us and carried us off prisoners, and that we made our escape from them. We need not mention the names of our friends, and perhaps the interpreter won't be very particular in making inquiries."

Bill finally persuaded Jack to agree that they should give a true account of themselves, leaving out only such particulars as were not necessary to mention, such as their visit to the Turgots, and their discovery of the smugglers' stores.

The general, who was making a survey of the country around the camp, rode on with his staff, while Captain Dupont and his men conducted their two young prisoners to head quarters, there to await his return.

The general was residing in an old chateau, with a high-peaked roof, and towers at each of the angles of the building.

The party pa.s.sed through the gateway, and proceeded to a room near the chief entrance, which served as a guard-room.

The soldiers remained outside, while the captain, with two men to guard the prisoners, entered. Jack and Bill had to wait for some time, during which they were allowed to sit on a bench by themselves.

Jack began to make observations on the people around them.

"Hush!" whispered Bill, "some one here may understand English better than we suppose, and we shall be foolish to let our tongues get us into a worse sc.r.a.pe than we are in already."

Jack took Bill's advice, and when he made any remark it was in a whisper.

They saw several of the officers who entered looking at them, and they were evidently the subject of their conversation. Jack and Bill had reason to consider themselves for a time persons of some importance, though they had no wish to be so.

At last an officer in a handsome uniform entered. He was a red-haired man, with queer twinkling eyes, and a c.o.c.k-up nose, anything but of a Roman type.

Captain Dupont spoke to him, when the lads saw him eyeing them, and presently he came up and said, "Hurroo! now me boys, just be afther telling me what part of the world you come from!"

Bill, as agreed on, began his narrative in a very circ.u.mstantial manner.

"All moighty foine, if thrue," observed Colonel O'Toole, for he was the officer who had just arrived, having been sent for to act as interpreter.

"It's true, sir, every word of it," said Bill.

"Well! we shall see, afther you repeat it all over again to the gineral, and moind you thin don't made any changes," said the colonel.

Bill wisely did not reply. Presently the general with his staff appeared, he and a few officers pa.s.sing on into an inner room. A few minutes afterwards Jack and Bill were sent for.

They found the general with Colonel O'Toole and several other persons seated at a table.

The general spoke a few words, when the colonel again told the prisoners to give an account of themselves.

Bill did so exactly in the words he had before used, Colonel O'Toole interpreting sentence by sentence.

"Good!" said the general. "And what could induce you, when you were once safe on sh.o.r.e, to venture out to sea on so dangerous a machine?"

The colonel interpreting, turned to Jack.

"I wanted to get home and see my mother, for she must fancy I am lost,"

answered Jack.

"Well, and a very right motive too," said the colonel; and he explained to the general what Jack had said.

"And what induced you to attempt the voyage?" asked the colonel, turning to Bill. "Did you want to get back to see your mother?"

"No, sir; I have no mother to see," answered Bill. "I wanted to get back to do my duty, and fight the enemies of my country."

The general laughed when this was interpreted to him; and observed to the officers around him, "If such is the spirit which animates the boys of England, what must we expect from the men? I must, however, consider whether we shall allow these boys to return home. They are young now, but in a short time they will grow into st.u.r.dy fellows."

"They've got tongues in their young heads," remarked the colonel. "I'm not altogether certain that they are quite as innocent as they look.

Maybe they were sent on sh.o.r.e as spies, and perhaps are midshipmen disguised as common seamen."

"Let them be searched, then, and ascertain whether they have any papers about them which may show their real character," said the general.

Jack and Bill clearly understood these remarks, and began to feel very uncomfortable.

Bill remembered that Jack had got his pockets filled with gold, and Jack remembered it too, and wished that he had left it behind in the cavern as Bill had advised.