The boat had by this time reached them; the secretary and
steward leaped into the sea, and approached the marquis, who
no longer showed any sign of life.
“I commit him to your care, as you value your lives,” said
the duke. “Take M. de Wardes on shore.” They took him in
their arms, and carried him to the dry sand, where the tide
never rose so high. A few idlers and five or six fishermen
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had gathered on the shore, attracted by the strange
spectacle of two men fighting with the water up to their
knees. The fishermen, observing a group of men approaching
carrying a wounded man, entered the sea until the water was
up to their waists. The English transferred the wounded man
to them, at the very moment the latter began to open his
eyes again. The salt water and the fine sand had got into
his wounds, and caused him the acutest pain. The duke’s
secretary drew out a purse filled with gold from his pocket,
and handed it to the one among those present who appeared of
most importance, saying: “From my master, his Grace the Duke
of Buckingham, in order that every possible care may be
taken of the Marquis de Wardes.”
Then, followed by those who had accompanied him, he returned
to the boat, which Buckingham had been enabled to reach with
the greatest difficulty, but only after he had seen De
Wardes out of danger. By this time it was high tide;
embroidered coats and silk sashes were lost; many hats, too,
had been carried away by the waves. The flow of the tide had
borne the duke’s and De Wardes’s clothes to the shore, and
De Wardes was wrapped in the duke’s doublet, under the
belief that it was his own, when the fishermen carried him
in their arms towards the town.