"Lay her to or we fire" "Who are you, and what do you want ?" shouted Ephraim Savage, in a voice that might have been heard from the bank.
"We come in the king's name, and we want a party of Huguenots from Paris who came on board of your vessel at Rouen." "Brace back the foreyard and lay her to," shouted the captain.

"Drop a ladder over the side there and look smart! So! Now we are ready for them." The yard was swung round and the vessel lay quietly rising and falling on the waves.

The boat dashed alongside, her brass cannon trained upon the brigantine, and her squad of marines with their fingers upon their triggers ready to open fire.

They grinned and shrugged their shoulders when they saw that their sole opponents were three unarmed men upon the poop.

The officer, a young active fellow with a bristling moustache, like the whiskers of a cat, was on deck in an instant with his drawn sword in his hand.
"Come up, two of you!" he cried.