A misstroke of the steering oar, the slightest faltering in the hands that held it, the mere touch of the boat's nose against the jagged rocks and logs of the pier, and all would be lost.
We could not stop to put De Grammont on shore, and presently recognizing that fact, he sat down in resignation in the bow of the boat, remarking with a sigh, as though speaking to himself:-- "Ah, the beautiful land!" By that time the flambeau was blazing not two hundred yards ahead of us.
The current had caught us, and the waves of the running tide came almost to the gunwale of the boat.

Bettina had risen to her feet, leaving her hat, vizard, and cloak in the bottom of the boat, and was standing on the stern thwart, her back towards us and her face up-stream.

Behind us, perhaps three hundred yards, came the king's great barge, ablaze with torches.

The men in the barge had ceased firing, supposing, probably, that we should be forced to land above the Bridge, and should then become an easy prey.

But we had Bettina with us; they had not.