Then he was seen on the taffrail of the felucca, with a spare shank-painter, which had been lying on the forecastle, on his shoulder.
"Antoine!--Francois!--Gregoire!"-- he called out, in a voice of thunder--"follow me!--the rest clear away the cable and bend a hawser to the better end!" The people of le Feu-Follet were trained to order and implicit obedience.

By this time, too, the lieutenants were among them; and the men set about doing as they had been directed.

Raoul himself passed into the felucca, followed by the three men he had selected by name.

The adventurers had no difficulty, as yet, in escaping the flames, though by this time they were pouring upward from the hatch in a torrent.

As Raoul suspected, his cable had been grappled; and, seizing the rope, he tightened it to a severe strain, securing the in-board part.