The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02

haved well under his hand, and it seemed
 to him that when he blew on the match
 to fire her the muzzle gaped in a grin oi
 delight. Of course the fleet would be furi
 ous at losing him, and ma couzaine
 there, the biggest gun in the fleet, with
 out her master. So they would pepper
 the place if they did not find him. De- cldedly, he must not go to old man Carna- vaPs. No harm should come to Minois' people that he could prevent What was
 he to do?
 He leaned his arms on the gun and shook his head helplessly at the village; then he turned his head away from the land. All at once his look seemed to lose itself in a long aisle of overwhelming -brightening arches till a vast wilder ness of Splendor swallowed it. It was a hole in the wall, the archway piercing the great rock. Its myriad inhabitants shrieked and clattered and cried over head. The shot from ma couzaine'' had reused them, and they had risen up like a cloud, and were scolding like million fshwives over this insult to their peace
 As he looked Antoine got new idea. If he could get on the top of that mas sive wall, not a hundred fleets could dis lodge him, nor an army follow him. A dozen stones would prevent that; one musket could defeat any forlorn hope. He would be the first n an that ever gave battle to whole fleet Besides, if he took refuge on the rock there would be no grudge against Perce village or the Carnavals, and the admiral would not at tack them.
 There he had worked it out, and it was now question between him and the ad- miral and his fleet; the Carnavals were out of it. There was the young sous-lieu- tenant now on the shore with his flag Of truce, talking to "oI man Carnaval." There was Minois not ten feet away, and there was the young sous-lieutenant bow ing and scraping to her. Man doux d'la vie, what did he mean by that?' reflected Antoine. It was all right between old man Carnaval and the sous-lieutenant- that was clear. There they were all shaking hands now. It was surer than ever that he. Antoine, must carry on campaign independent of the Carnavals. If he didn't succeed, why then he would be hanged to the yardarm or shot But if he stayed where he was on the Invin- cible, he was in just as much danger from the British gun in battle.
 "Ba sul" Antoine said to himself, the only thing was to try and climb Perce Rock. What thing to tell if he did it and came safe out of the scrape. It would increase the worth of the Charming Nancy at least 50 per cent. Certainly he must do it. He had pointed out to Minois two years ago the spot where he thought it could be done. Just at this particular point the wall was not quite so steep, and there were narrow lodges and Jumps of stone and natural steps and footholds and little pinnacles which the fingers could grip and where man might rest The weather had been scorching hot, too, the rocks were dry as a bone and there would be no danger of slipping.
 Yes, he would try it in any case. He would be deserter, patriot, adventurer, gunner, master of the Charming Nancy and Jerseyman all in one He woud need, what? If he got to the top he would need twine for hauling up rope-the Car navals would give him rope when the time came. He would need stone and flint, and he also had some matches. 4 knife, a hammer and one quilt-he must have the quilt for the nights, though he we'll knew what the weight of it would mean in climbing. Then there was food Well, perhaps he should starve to death up there, but he would take what was left of to-day's rations, of which he had eaten very little: there was about half-pound of biscuit, near half a pint of peas, a half-pint of oatmeal and two ounces of cheese. He could. live on that for at least three days. He also had a horn of good arrack. When that was gone. well. he was taking chancesl If he died of thirst it was no worse than the
 
 a few hundred feet of fine strong twine, and he knew there was as much as he needed in the storeroom among the cordage. He would get that at once and conceal it, for it was the one thing he could not do without.
 There was the sous-lieutenant coming back to the Invincible; he was waving his hand toward Minois. It was all very fine, he reflected, fretfully, to be a sous lieutenant and wear a gold-handled sword; but he, Antoine, would climb Perce Rock, and the fleet and Minois and the sous-lieutenant should see him do a thing that had never before been done
 But how would Mipois know who 1t was perched on Perce Rock? He had not thought of that. What signal was there? There was none that he knew. Well, if he got away safely from the Invincible he would go to old mah CarnavaIs, let her know and then go straight to the Perce Rock. Though it would be moon light, the path of ascent was on the south side, out of the view of the fleet.
 Very well; that settled it. He patted ma couzaine'' tenderly. He was sorry to leave her, but it had to be.
 He was, however, a man of habit The rest of the day he did his duty as faith fully as though he expected to be at his post the next morning. He gave the us- ual instructions to the gunsmith and arr morer; he inspected the small arms; he chose a man, as was his custom, for the gunroom watch: and he ate his supper phlegmatically when the hour came.
 It was the last quarter of the moon and the neap tide was running low, when An toine let himself down softly into the water He had the blanket tied to his head the food, matches and so on were inside the blanket, and the twine was in his pocket. He had not been seen, ana he dropped away quietly astern. Another ship lay in his path, and he must be care- ful in passing her. He had got clear os the Invincible while the moon was par tially obscured. Now, however it was shining, but not very brightly. He came so near the other ship that ho could see the watch. and he could smell the hot tar and pitch which had been used on the seams after caIking. There was no sea and very little wind, and the watch was not alert. He was so close at one moment that he could hear the laughter of the young foremast men as they turned in. He moved his arms very