CHAPTER V--THE GOOD HOPE (continued)

The pier was not far distant from the house in which Joanna lay; it now

only remained to get the men on shore, to surround the house with a

strong party, burst in the door and carry off the captive. They might

then regard themselves as done with the Good Hope; it had placed them on

the rear of their enemies; and the retreat, whether they should succeed

or fail in the main enterprise, would be directed with a greater measure

of hope in the direction of the forest and my Lord Foxham's reserve.

To get the men on shore, however, was no easy task; many had been sick,

all were pierced with cold; the promiscuity and disorder on board had

shaken their discipline; the movement of the ship and the darkness of the

night had cowed their spirits. They made a rush upon the pier; my lord,

with his sword drawn on his own retainers, must throw himself in front;

and this impulse of rabblement was not restrained without a certain

clamour of voices, highly to be regretted in the case.

When some degree of order had been restored, Dick, with a few chosen men,

set forth in advance. The darkness on shore, by contrast with the

flashing of the surf, appeared before him like a solid body; and the

howling and whistling of the gale drowned any lesser noise.

He had scarce reached the end of the pier, however, when there fell a

lull of the wind; and in this he seemed to hear on shore the hollow

The Black Arrow