ONE AGAINST FIVE 303

Suddenly the drums beat on board the cruiser, the
trumpets sound, their copper voices reach me.

I recognize that drum-beat—it is the French. Great
Heaven! It is a ship belonging to my own country,
and a Frenchman is about to destroy it.

No! that shall not be! I will spring upon Roch, I will
shout to him that it is a French ship. He has not
recognized it. He shall recognize it!

At this moment, at a sign from Serko, the inventor
raises his hand, the hand that holds the tube. Then
the drum-beat becomes louder. It is the salute to the
flag. Anensign floats wide in the breeze. The tricolour,
the red, white, and blue stands out clear against the sky.

What is happening? Oh, I understand. At sight of
his national flag, Roch is like one fascinated! His arm
falls slowly as the flag rises gradually in the air. Then
he draws back. He covers his eyes with his hand. He
cannot endure the sight of the tricolour.

The virtue of patriotism is not then dead within him,
since his heart beats fast at the sight of the flag of
France! ~

My emotion is as keen as his! At the risk ot
being seen—after all, what does it matter ?—I scramble
along the rocks. I must be there to support him, to
keep him from wavering. Were I to pay for it with my
life I will adjure him for the last time in the name of
his country. I will say to him:

“Frenchman, it is the tricolour that is hoisted on that
ship, it is a bit of France itself that is coming! French-