But up at the mansion, de Bouille and Joshua knew nothing of what was going on in Lower Town. De Bouille had explained hastily:
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"I have a canoe at Tumbledown Dick!"
De Bouille had started around the side of the great home, through the gardens; he looked around for Joshua. "Where the hell did he go?'" de Bouille muttered.
Joshua was already at the French windows that opened onto Lucie's room. The door was locked. He crashed in a pane of glass with his elbow, and put his hand in and opened the door. When he saw her, he said:
"Thank heaven! I have found you." He was breathing fast. "Come with me," he said.
Without another word, he took her by the hand and out on the balcony; he lifted her over the rail and set her down on the other side just as de Bouille came running up. He panted:
"I didn't know where you'd gone!"
"I want to take Lucie to Douglass," Joshua said. "She'll be safe there!"
De Bouille nodded understandingly. "Come on, then," he cried. He knew very well the British marines would be swinging up over the top of the hill at any moment. "Through the sugar," he said.
They ran across the lawns. The sugar cane waved in the distance. They began to hear the sharp crack of musket fire.
"Crouch down, Lucie," Joshua said. Bent over, they entered the field of sugar cane. "We can cut through to the road, down near madam's."
Ahead of him, de Bouille jogged. Joshua said, "Do you have any bullets left?"
"Two," de Bouille called back. They had expended some during the sporadic fighting before they reached the mansion.
Joshua was better armed. He had taken from the British marine his musket, his powder and shot. Although he had no time now to think ahead, the very possession of the weapon and powder and shot was satisfying. He carried the musket over his shoulder, and as they ran, crouched, through the rows of cane, he felt no immediate apprehension of the future. He wanted to give Lucie into Douglass' hands, because the British would treat Douglass with respect, and, as her maid, Lucie would be out of danger.
He watched her as she ran ahead of him, lightly, her little feet flying; occasionally she would look over her shoulder and smile breathlessly. He hadn't given her time to say a word, but she had
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realized there was no time to explain and she had been ready to depend on him.
"Hold on," he said.
She stopped, and he came up to her. Cautiously he put his head up over the cane and looked to see where they were. He frowned; he had misjudged, all right; they were still a good long way from their goal. But he could see that there was an open stretch of long lawns ahead, between the road and them, over which they would have to pass to cross the road to Barney's. Joshua called to de Bouille, who was about fifteen feet ahead, and he also stopped to get his breath.
Joshua said, "Look ahead there."
De Bouille did. He sat down on the ground, and looked over to Joshua. Then Lucie said, "I could go alone."
"No," both men said at once.
De Bouille knew that this field of cane stretched all the way to Signal Hill, Then there was a narrow pass, just wide enough for one man, and then the road to Tumbledown Dick, if it could be called a road. It was a narrow defile between sharp rocks, leading a mile down to the sandy small beach in the bay called Tumbledown Dick.
Then there was the sudden sound of musket fire, near by. Joshua got to his feet again and peered over the waving cane. Up the road came a company of marines, scarcely a hundred yards away.
De Bouille said, "We take Lucie with us!" He got to his feet. He felt no fear about taking her; he was a good sailor, and his boat a triangular sailed sturdy craft; he had sailed much in her, and he knew the waters, the small islands well. "This way," he said.
They started to run again, cutting diagonally through the field of cane, away from the sea road, through to the middle of the island where the Quill rose, black. They passed under its shadow, and through the pass, squeezing through, for it was grown with bushes. Then they started down the mile long steep defile to the beach.
Little streams plunged down the side. They leaped them; they waded through. They hastened, as fast as they could, for as de Bouille got closer to the beach, he began to have a vague fear. He increased his pace.
Lucie was between the two men, with de Bouille ahead and Joshua behind. She did not know how far she had come. Suddenly she stumbled. Joshua stopped. De Bouille watched him help her up. He realized instantly she had been keeping up too fast a pace. But
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he could not wait. "You stay here! I'll go on down to the beach. Come as soon as you can! I'll wait, once I'm there."
He did not stop for an answer, but disappeared around a sharp bend in the path. There was no danger from the British here; they would not penetrate into this wilderness now. Joshua set Lucie down on a patch of ground under a tree that leaned its branches over the path. He flopped down beside her, full length, putting his head in his arms.
After a moment he raised his head. She was lying flat, breathing fast. "We ran you too hard," he said.
She shook her head from side to side, and smiled.
"Don't talk," he said. Suddenly he frowned a little, and propped himself on one elbow and looked down at her face. "Perhaps—" He was about to say that perhaps he shouldn't have brought her. "I had no idea the troops would appear that fast, Lucie," he said. "Will you be afraid, in a small boat? I'm a good sailor, too."
"I'm not afraid. With you."
"We got you dirty," he said. There was a smudge on her cheek, and her round white arm was scratched, and bleeding a little. Joshua took out his handkerchief and wiped her cheek off. "We'll bathe your arm in seawater," he said, turning her arm over to see the end of the long scratch. Suddenly he looked into her eyes, he could feel the warm earth beneath him; a little bit of sun pierced through the trees and shone on her disheveled hair. With a quick movement he rolled over and, his shoulders pinning her down, he began to kiss her; lying there with her, his mouth on hers, he felt her response. With a muttered ejaculation, he drew away from her.
"Lucie," he said, low; he couldn't resist, and leaned over and kissed her again, a long kiss; then he pulled her into a sitting position, and to her feet. "We have to go on, now," he whispered, taking her in a last quick hug. She fastened her fingers in his as they started down the path again.
Joshua watched her as she walked by his side. Finally he said, "I hope to God the boat is there."
"Oui," Lucie answered, and he smiled. The path was steeper, they pushed through onto the small beach almost before they knew it. They saw de Bouille coming toward them, from around a great rock. He said simply:
"Somebody got here before we did. The boat is gone."
Chapter 28
THERE IS ONLY ONE THING TO DO, JOSHUA SAID BRIEFLY, "AND that's find a place to camp out here in the woods for a while. We'll be relatively safe from the British; they won't come hunting us yet."
De Bouille nodded. "I'm going to reconnoitre along the beach, and see if there are more men; there must be."
They had been sitting on the sand. The sea stretched lonely and vast. There was no sound but the sound of sea birds and surf.