CHAPTER XXIV.
THE START OF THE "GOLDEN ROD." Thanks to the early tidings which the guardsman had brought with him, his little party was now ahead of the news.

As they passed through the village of Louvier in the early morning they caught a glimpse of a naked corpse upon a dunghill, and were told by a grinning watchman that it was that of a Huguenot who had died impenitent, but that was a common enough occurrence already, and did not mean that there had been any change in the law.

At Rouen all was quiet, and Captain Ephraim Savage before evening had brought both them and such property as they had saved aboard of his brigantine, the Golden Rod.

It was but a little craft, some seventy tons burden, but at a time when so many were putting out to sea in open boats, preferring the wrath of Nature to that of the king, it was a refuge indeed.

The same night the seaman drew up his anchor and began to slowly make his way down the winding river.
And very slow work it was.