She was a comely woman of thirty--no more. I thought to myself,
'All that's no good on a night like this.' And I made up my mind that
if a body of my fellow-convicts came down to the pier--which was sure to
happen soon--I would shoot her through the head before I shot myself. I
knew the 'comrades' well. This idea of mine gave me quite an interest
in life, monsieur; and at once, instead of remaining stupidly exposed on
the pier, I retreated a little way and crouched behind a bush. I did not
intend to let myself be pounced upon unawares and be prevented perhaps
from rendering a supreme service to at least one human creature before I
died myself.
"But we must believe the signal was seen, for the galley from Ile Royale
came over in an astonishingly short time. The woman kept right on till
the light of her lantern flashed upon the officer in command and the
bayonets of the soldiers in the boat. Then she sat down and began to
cry.
"She didn't need me any more. I did not budge. Some soldiers were only
in their shirt-sleeves, others without boots, just as the call to arms
had found them.
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