298 THE FLIGHT OF EUGENIE. every kindness, and listened with the deepest interest and sympathy to her account of her last days in the Tuil- eries and her escape from Paris. In telling the story Eugenie frequently gave way to tears, but assured her hostess that she now felt herself perfectly safe, as she was under the protection of Englishmen ; indeed, she imagined herself safer than at that moment she really was. At a quarter to two in the morning Sir John, who had been on shore, returned to the yacht and entered in the log-book : " Mob at the cafds began making great noise, singing the ' Marseillaise.' Woke up men and got ready to slip. Went myself to the cafes and found drunken Mobiles." The outcries of these demoralized soldiers against the Emperor and Empress were so violent that Sir John, remembering the visit of the French spy, considered an attack upon the yacht quite within the limits of possi- bility. He therefore thought it best to tell his crew the name of the lady he had taken on board, and added that they might be called upon to defend her, which they at once expressed their willingness to do. No attack was made, however, and at the break of dawn the " Gazelle " prepared for sea. The night had been black and stormy. It had proved fatal, as was afterwards learned, to the man-of-war " Captain," the most powerful fighting ship in the British navy, commanded by Sir John's cousin, which went down with all on board. Nor did the morning promise better weather — squally, with ragged clouds flying across the sky, and a high sea ; a bad day for the little cutter. Nevertheless, a hour or two later she sailed, and Sir John entered in the log-book : " At 7.30 discharged pilot; set mainsail and spinnaker and second jib (topsail housed). Wind fresh. Heavy ground swell. Heavy rain and thick. Hove patent log at 8 a.m. At 9 wind freshened."
