About three o'clock
he sent word to Arthur to have the strongest of the boats kept in
readiness a little lower down the river than the usual point of
embarkation; so that they might, if possible, escape being carried
through the throng. He then procured a waggon into which de Lescure was
lifted on his bed; his wife sat behind him, supporting his head on her
lap, and Henri and his sister walked beside the vehicle down to the
water's edge.
The little Chevalier was there with the boat, and he had with him two
men, neither of whom were young, and who had been at work the whole day
ferrying over the Vendeans to the island. Arthur's figure was hardly
that of an aide-de-camp. His head was bare and his face begrimed with
mud. He was stripped to his shirt sleeves, and they were tucked up
nearly to his shoulders. He still had round his waist the red scarf, of
which he was so proud; but it was so soiled and dragged, as hardly to
be recognized as the badge of the honourable corps to which he belonged,
for he had, constantly since the morning, been up to his breast in the
water, dragging women and children out of the river, heaving the boats
ashore, or helping to push them off through the mud and rushes.
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