"I would gladly put her out," said Captain Saucier anxiously. "Peggy, my
child, now that Mademoiselle Zhone is with Angelique, be persuaded to go
with madame and the children."
Peggy shook her head, laughing. A keen new delight in delay and danger
made her sparkle.
"Go yourself, Captain Saucier. One gentleman is enough to take care of
us."
"I think you ought to go, Captain Saucier," said Rice. "You will be
needed. The boat may be swamped by some of those large waves. I am
ashamed of leaving my stepmother behind; but she would not leave my
father, and Maria clung to me. We dared not fill the boat too full."
Angelique ran and kissed the children before her father put them into
the boat, and offered her cheeks to her mother. Madame Saucier was a fat
woman. She clung appalled to her husband, as he let her over the
slippery roof. Two slave men braced themselves and held the ropes which
steadied him, the whites of their eyes showing. Their mistress was
landed with a plunge, but steadied on her seat by Colonel Menard.
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