Lanty tried to put Victorine aside, and called out, 'Your reverence,
wait--Masther Phelim, wait till I come and help you.' But the girl,
frantic with terror, grappled him fast, screaming to him not to let her
go--and at the same moment a wave broke over the Abbe. Lanty, almost
wild, was ready to leap into it after him, thinking he must be sucked
back with it, but behold! he still remained clinging to the rock.
Instinct seemed to serve him, for he had stuck his knife into the rock
and was holding on by it. There seemed no foothold, and while Lanty
was deliberating how to go to his assistance, another wave washed him
off and bore him to the next rock, which was only separated from the
mainland by a channel of smoother water. He tried to catch at a
floating plank, but in vain; however, an oar next drifted towards him,
and by it he gained the land, but only to be instantly surrounded by a
mob of Cabeleyzes, who seemed to be stripping off his garments. By
this time many were swimming towards the wreck; and Estelle, who had
recovered breath and senses, looked over Hebert's shoulder at them.
'The savages! the infidels!' she said. 'Will they kill me? or will
they try to make me renounce my faith? They shall kill me rather than
make me yield.'

'Ah! yes, my dear demoiselle, that is right. That is the only way. It
is my resolution likewise,' returned Hebert. 'God give us grace to
persist.'

'My mamma said so,' repeated the child. 'Is she drowned, Maitre
Hebert?'

'She is happier than we are, my dear young lady.'