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  Yule-Tide Yarns




  [Illustration: "The quartermaster fired his two pistols, and the man
  fell."

     _Page 181._
  ]




  Yule-Tide Yarns

  Edited by
  G. A. Henty

  With Forty-five Illustrations


  [Illustration]


  Longmans, Green, and Co.
  39 Paternoster Row, London
  New York and Bombay
  1899

  _All rights  reserved_




  CONTENTS


                                                                  PAGE

  CHÂTEAU AND SHIP.   By G. A. HENTY                                 1
    _Illustrated by_ GORDON BROWNE.

  ADVENTURES OF A NIGHT.   By JOHN BLOUNDELLE-BURTON                54
    _Illustrated by_ ENOCH WARD.

  AN OUTLAW'S FORTUNES.   By W. C. WHISTLER                         90
    _Illustrated by_ J. FINNEMORE.

  "A FLIGHT FROM JUSTICE."  By Lieut.-Col. PERCY GROVES            123
    _Illustrated by_ J. B. GREENE.

  LONGITUDE TEN DEGREES.  By ROBERT LEIGHTON                       160
    _Illustrated by_ W. S. STACEY.

  A SOLDIER'S VOW.  By DAVID KER                                   193
    _Illustrated by_ J. A. SYMINGTON.

  IN LUCK'S WAY.  By FRED. WHISHAW                                 228
    _Illustrated by_ R. WHEELWRIGHT.

  "SAMANA KAY."  By HARRY COLLINGWOOD                              268
    _Illustrated by_ LANCELOT SPEED.

  "HARI RAM," THE DACOIT.  By E. F. POLLARD                        296
    _Illustrated by_ F. FEELER.

  A JUNGLE DRAMA.   By GEORGE MANVILLE FENN                        332
    _Illustrated by_ LANCELOT SPEED.




  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


  "The quartermaster fired his two pistols,
     and the man fell"                                  _Frontispiece_

                                                                  PAGE

  "The two valets had at night carried off his body"                 4

  "Lower your flag or I will sink you"                              10

  "It is I, Peter Vignerolles"                                      14

  "Running forward, stepped into the water"                         29

  "Open the cover a little way to look at the compass"              36

  "At them, lads"                                                   39

  "We buried them at the spot that we agreed on"                    48

  "Stab you under the shoulder in a dark alley"                     61

  "Kiss my hand--do something lover-like"                           68

  "I want your company"                                             74

  "Fighting across the body of a third who lay prone and
     prostrate with Giles' foot upon his body"                      83

  "This is the son of your king. I charge you with his care"        96

  "Master Peel," she cried; "the house is empty and all in
     disorder"                                                     108

  "I shouted, and tried to reach my dagger"                        116

  "I got a fair blow at him from aloft"                            119

  "Knocked him fairly off his legs"                                131

  "I shall try to stop them"                                       137

  "Major Warrington?" he said                                      146

  "You are our prisoner"                                           155

  "The sight and sounds that met him were such as he had never
     before encountered"                                           167

  "The woman shrank from him"                                      174

  "The quartermaster fired his two pistols, and the man fell"      180

  "You have come back to your senses, eh?"                         189

  "That hand no good--cut thumb off"                               198

  "Jist tie my 'ands agin, will yer, Tom?"                         203

  "The two men met like conflicting whirlwinds"                    215

  "Is it a h'angel?"                                               222

  "Kittie, who played a much stronger game"                        230

  "You may have a visit from the blackguards before the
     night's out"                                                  235

  "The passing of a body of Mashona or Matabele warriors
     on the warpath"                                               245

  "Bruce felt impelled to look upon Uncle Ben's body once more
     before leaving it"                                            255

  "The lad picked up a stone to throw at the evil-looking
     creature"                                                     265

  "Suddenly there arose a wild yell aloft of 'Man overboard!'"     272

  "Ned seemed to stumble or throw himself backwards over the
     gunwale of the boat"                                          285

  "I met with nothing remarkable until I reached its farther
     extremity"                                                    291

  "You'll know me when you next see me"                            305

  "Good sport! good sport!"                                        310

  "In a second he would have torn Lindsay to pieces"               315

  "He shall not be hanged"                                         323

  "Hari Rām, if you make one step forward, I will shoot you
     like a dog"                                                   326

  "They walked down to the bamboo landing-stage at the
     riverside"                                                  335

  "Of course: we must go on"                                       343

  "The butt of his double gun crashed against the side of the
     tyrant's head"                                                361

  "The girls dashed along the bank"                                363

  "Crack!"                                                         365




CHÂTEAU AND SHIP

_A TALE OF THE TERROR_

BY G. A. HENTY


The _Alert_, a handsome schooner of some 200 tons burden, was in April
1793 cruising along the southern shore of France. She had been captured
a fortnight before by his Majesty's frigate _Tartar_, a week after the
declaration of war between France and England. As she was a very fast
vessel, the captain of the _Tartar_ had placed thirty men on board her,
under the command of his senior midshipman, Vignerolles, in order that
he might gather news of the movements of any hostile craft from Toulon
or Marseilles, and pick up any French merchantmen returning from abroad
and ignorant that war had begun. The young commander was standing on
the quarter-deck with his glass fixed upon a large château standing
some four miles back from the sea on a lofty eminence.

"The baron must be mad," he said, as he lowered the glass, "to remain
there with his wife and two daughters, when he might long ago have
managed to escape with them across the frontier into Italy. If he is
so pig-headed as to determine to stop there himself, and have his head
chopped off by the guillotine, he might at least have sent _them_ to a
place of safety. I have been brought up to admire the French nobles,
but upon my word, if they are all like him they well deserve the fate
that is falling upon them. Of course those who emigrate have their
estates forfeited, but it is a good deal better to lose your estate
than your estate and head also."

Vignerolles belonged to an old Huguenot family which had emigrated
to England upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes. They had sold
their property, and possessed considerable means when they arrived
in England. Chiefly for the sake of assisting the many exiles of
their religion, they had joined two or three others in erecting a
silk manufactory at Spitalfields. As time went on, the heirs of those
who had joined them in the enterprise had gone out of it, and the
de Vignerolles of the time had become sole proprietor of the silk
factory. It had gone down from father to son in unbroken succession.
The younger sons had gone out into the world and made their ways
in other directions, but it had become a tradition that the eldest
son should take the business, which was now a very flourishing one.
They had dropped the French prefix, and now simply called themselves
Vignerolles. Their branch of the family had been the younger one. The
Barons de Vignerolles had remained Catholics, and had possessed their
wide estates in peace, being among the largest landowners in Provence.
The connection between the two branches had been always maintained,
and from time to time members of the English branch went out for a
visit to the ancestral château, where they were always hospitably
entertained; the fact that they had gone into trade, which would have
been considered a terrible disgrace in France, being condoned on the
ground that being among a nation of traders it was only natural they
should do as their neighbours did.

Once or twice only had members of the senior branch paid a visit to
London, and then not from any desire for travel, but simply because
they were members of their embassy in London. These had brought back
news that the Vigner