Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-23
CHAPTER XVII.
How the Yellow Cog Crossed the Bar
Of Gironde.

Of Gironde.
For two days the yellow cog ran swiftly
before a northeasterly wind, and on the dawn
of the third the high land of Ushant lay like
a mist upon the shimmeriylg skyline. There
came a plump of rain toward midday and
the breeze died down, but it freshened again
before nightfall and Goodwin Hawtayne
veered his sheet and held her head for the
south Next morning they had passed Belle
Isle and ran through the midst of feet Of
transports returning from Guienne. Sir
Nigel Lor;ng and Sir Oliver Buttesthorn at
once hung their shields over the side and
displayed their pennons as was the custom,
noting with the keenest interest the answer
ing symbols which told the names Of the
cavaliers who had been constrained by Ill
health or wounds to leave the prince at so
critical time.
That evening great dun-colored cloud
banked up in the west, and an anxious man
was Goodwin Hawtayne, for third part OF
his crew had been slain and half the remain
der were aboard the galleys. so that, with
an injured ship, he was little fit to meet
such storm as sweeps over those waters.
All night it blew in short fitful puffs heel
ing the great cog over until the water
curled over her lee bulwarks. AS the wind
still freshened the yard was lowered half
way down the mast In the morning. Al
leyne wretchedly Ill and weak, with MS
head still ringing from the blow which he
had received, crawled up upon deck. Water
swept and aslant, 1t was preferable to the
noisome, rat ha united dungeons which served
as cabins. There, clinging to the stout hal
yards of the sheet, he gazed with amaze
ment at the long lines of black waves, each
with it's curling ridge of foam, racing In
endless succession from out the inexhaust-
ible west. huge, somber cloud Hecked
with livid blotches, stretched over the whole
seward sky line, with long ragged stream
ers whrled out in front of it. Far behind
them the two gal!eys labored heavily, now
sinking between the rollers until their yards
were level with the waves, and again shoot
ing up with a Keeling, scooping motion until
every spar and rope stood out hard against
the sky. On the left the low-lying land
stretched in a dim haze, rising here and
there into darker blur. which marked the
higher capes and headlands. The land of
France! Alleyne's eyes shone as he gazed
upon it. The land of France!-the very
words sounded as the call of bugle in the
ears of the youth of England. The land
where their fathers had bled, the home of
chivalry and of knightly deeds, the country
of gallant men. of courtly women. of prince
y buildings of the wise, the polished and
the sainted. There it lay, so still and gray
! beneath the drifting wrack-the home of
things noble and of things shameful-the
theater where a new name might be made
or an old one marred. From his bosom to
his lips came the crumpled veil. and he
breathed a VOW that If valor and good will
could raise him to his iadyS side then death
alone should hold him back from her. His
thoughts were still in the woods of Min
stead and the old armory of Twynham
Castle when the hoarse voice of the master
shipman brought them back once more to
the Bay of Biscay.
BY my troth, young SIR" he said, you
are as long in the face as the devil at a
christening, and l cannot marvel at it, for
I have sailed these waters since l was as
high as this whinyard and yet l never saw
more sure promise of evil night"
Nay, I had other things upon my mind >"
the squire answered
And so has every man." cried Hawtayne
in an injured voice. Let the shipman see
to it. 1t is the master shipman's affair
Put it all upon good Master Hawtayne!
Never had / so much care since first | blew
trumpet and showed cartel at the west gate
of Southampton"
What is amiss. then?' asked Alleyne, for
the mans words were as gusty the
weather.
"Amiss, quotha? Here am I with but
half my mariners, and a hole in the ship
where that twenty-devi stone struck us big
enough to fit the fat widow of Northam
through. 1t is well enough on this tack but
| would have you tell me what / am to do
on the other. We are like to have salt
water upon us until we be found picked