THE STORY OF ISAAC BROCK

[Illustration: "VIEW OF ST. PETER'S PORT, GUERNSEY, 18 x 6"]




CHAPTER I.

OUR HERO'S HOME--GUERNSEY.


Off the coast of Brittany, where the Bay of Biscay fights the white
horses of the North Sea, the Island of Guernsey rides at anchor. Its
black and yellow, red and purple coast-line, summer and winter, is awash
with surf, burying the protecting reefs in a smother of foam. Between
these drowned ridges of despair, which warn the toilers of the sea of an
intention to engulf them, tongues of ocean pierce the grim chasms of the
cliffs.

Between this and the sister island of Alderney the teeth of the Casquets
cradle the skeleton of many a stout ship, while above the level of the
sea the amethyst peaks of Sark rise like phantom bergs. In the sunlight
the rainbow-coloured slopes of Le Gouffre jut upwards a jumble of glory.
Exposed to the full fury of an Atlantic gale, these islands are
well-nigh obliterated in drench. From where the red gables cluster on
the heights of Fort George, which overhang the harbour, to the thickets