English towns in which he could spend a few days without dying of
_ennui_, was anxious to put in there, but Smith dissuaded him.

"If we put in here, sir, they'll be sure to trace the child; it would be
far better to let me go ashore with it in the gig, while you lay
outside."

"But where are we to put in then? Having come to England, I mean to go
ashore for a day or two."

"Why not run up to Yarmouth, sir; the wind is fair; it is south-west
now. You have never been there, have you? And there'll be no fear of
anyone tracing the child there. If madame sees in the paper that we
touched at Yarmouth, she may inquire all over that part of the country
without finding the baby down in Sussex."

Léon considered the matter for a few minutes, and finally consented to
this arrangement; and about eight o'clock that evening the gig was
lowered, and Pierre, who would not abandon his charge till the last
minute, went ashore with John Smith and the baby.

They landed on a quiet spot between Brighton and Rottingdean, and here
Smith insisted on Pierre's remaining in charge of the boat while he
deposited the baby with his friends. Pierre protested against this; but
the carpenter was firm. It would not be safe, he argued, to leave the
boat alone for two or three hours, and he might be gone as long as that;
and there could be no danger in leaving Pierre there, for if anyone did
question him about his business, he would not be able to understand
them, as he knew no English.