Page:Stories by Foreign Authors (French II).djvu/105

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100
THE VIRGIN'S GOD-CHILD.

nearer to the lost in hell. Or has the devil at last hunted down his prey—Judock Shipwreck of the Ravens' Cliff?"

Salaun, it was plain, wished to avoid giving an answer, and went accordingly towards the boat, remarking that it was high time to think of our expedition. But the name of Judock happened to recall to my mind, though indistinctly, certain criminal prosecutions in which I had been engaged. And upon inquiry the miller convinced me that it was indeed this very man who had been brought before the Court at Brest several years before, charged with heavy crimes, but who had been acquitted, contrary to the general expectation, owing to some deficiency in the evidence.

"If I only knew," added the miller, "whether the old villain were at home, that he might himself receive his flour from me, and make no more ado about it, I would rather" here he interrupted himself. "But here comes his boy—Bauzec the Black—and he can give us the surest information if he but choose to do so."

The new-comer was a young lad in the very poorest dress of the district. His thick, unkempt, rough, coal-black hair fell like a mane over his shoulders. In his right hand he held a long cudgel, which, with strength and agility, he swung round in circles; while his left hand clutched with fierce grasp the sack which he carried on