go FOR THE FLAG

Without doubt I shall soon be given my liberty, and so
will Thomas Roch, provided he has been shut up with the
same care. By liberty, I mean permission to come and
go on deck at my pleasure. But this will not be until
after some hours, for we must not be seen. We shall not
breathe the outside air until the vessel has reached the
open sea. If it bea sailing vessel, we shall have to wait
until the breeze starts up-—-the land breeze at daybreak—
which is favourable to navigation on Pamlico Sound.
Were it a steamboat—

No! On board a steamer there are always those
whiffs of oil, and grease, those smells from the engine-
room, that would have reached me. Then the motion of
the screw or the paddles, the tremor of the machinery, the
jerks of the pistons—I must have felt them.

After all I must be patient. I shall be extricated from
this hole to-morrow, At least if they do not give me my
liberty they will bring me some food, for nothing indicates
that they mean me to die of hunger; it would have been
easier in that case to drop me into the river. Once at sea,
what have they to fear from me? My voice would not be
heard. As for my complaints or recriminations, how
useless they would be !

Besides, what am I to the knowledge of the authors of
this crime? One Gaydon, a mere hospital attendant,
without any importance. Itisin Roch they are interested.
I was included in the abduction only because I returned
to the pavilion at that moment.

In any case, whatever happens, and whoever the people