Far behind them the two galleys labored heavily, now sinking between the rollers until their yards were level with the waves, and again shooting up with a reeling, 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 a 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 a 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 princely 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 theatre where a new name might be made or an old one marred.