Page:A C Doyle - The White Company.djvu/224

194 before us, and once over the bar, and under shelter of the Tour de Cordouan, all will be well with us. Veer again, my hearts, and bring her to try with the main course!'

The sail swung round once more, and the cog, battered and torn and well-nigh water-logged, staggered in for this haven of refuge. A bluff cape to the north and a long spit to the south marked the mouth of the noble river, with a low-lying island of silted sand in the centre, all shrouded and curtained by the spume of the breakers. A line of broken water traced the dangerous bar, which in clear day and balmy weather has cracked the back of many a tall ship.

'There is a channel,' said Hawtayne, 'which was shown to me by the prince's own pilot. Mark yonder tree upon the bank, and see the tower which rises behind it. If these two be held in a line, even as we hold them now, it may be done, though our ship draws two good ells more than when she put forth.'

'God speed you, Master Hawtayne!' cried Sir Oliver.

'Twice have we come scathless out of peril, and now for the third time I commend me to the blessed James of Compostella, to whom I vow'

'Nay, nay, old friend,' whispered Sir Nigel. 'You are like to bring a judgment upon us with these vows, which no living man could accomplish. Have I not already heard you vow to eat two carp in one day, and now you would venture upon a third?'

'I pray you that you will order the Company to lie down,' cried Hawtayne, who had taken the tiller and was gazing ahead with a fixed eye. 'In three minutes we shall either be lost or in safety.'

Archers and seamen lay flat upon the deck, waiting in stolid silence for whatever fate might come. Hawtayne bent his weight upon the tiller, and crouched to see under the bellying sail. Sir Oliver and Sir Nigel stood erect with hands crossed in front of the poop. Down swooped the great cog into the narrow channel which was the portal to safety. On either bow roared the shallow bar. Right ahead one small