"My life," rejoined she, "or a
necklace of pearls shall be yours, in the moment you land me at the
Tower of London." The man seeing the youth and agitation of the
seeming boy, doubted his power to perform so magnificent a promise, and
was half inclined to retract his assent; but Helen pointing to a jewel
on her finger as a proof that she did not speak of things beyond her
read, he no longer hesitated; and pledging his word that wind and tide
in his favor, he would land her at the Tower Stairs, she, as if all
happiness must meet her at that point, sprung into his vessel. The
sails were unfurled, the voices of the men chanted forth their cheering
responses on clearing the harbor, and Helen throwing herself along the
floor of her little cabin, in that prostration of body and soul,
silently breathed her thanks to God for being indeed launched on the
ocean, whose waves she trusted would soon convey her to Wallace; to
sooth, to serve--to die, or to compass the release of him who had
sacrificed more than his life for her father's preservation--for him
who had saved herself from worse than death.
Chapter LXXXI.
The Thames.
On the evening of the fourteenth day from the one in which Helen had
embarked, the little ship of Dundee entered on the bright bosom of the
Nore.
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