Carette of Sark

Carette of Sark

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Carette of Sark, by John Oxenham
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Title: Carette of Sark
Author: John Oxenham
Release Date: September 6, 2005 [EBook #16666]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OF SARK ***

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CARETTE OF SARK
BY JOHN OXENHAM
AUTHOR OF "WHITE FIRE" "HEARTS IN EXILE" "BARBE OF
GRAND BAYOU" "JOHN OF GERISAU" ETC.

WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS, FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF
SARK, SPECIALLY TAKEN FOR THIS BOOK
HODDER AND STOUGHTON LONDON MCMVII

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
GOD'S PRISONER RISING FORTUNES A PRINCESS OF
VASCOVY BONDMAN FREE OUR LADY OF DELIVERANCE
JOHN OF GERISAU UNDER THE IRON FLAIL BARBE OF
GRAND BAYOU HEARTS IN EXILE JOSEPH SCORER A
WEAVER OF WEBS WHITE FIRE THE GATE OF THE DESERT
GIANT CIRCUMSTANCE PROFIT AND LOSS THE LONG ROAD

TO WILLIAM FREDERICK COLLINGS, ESQ. Seigneur of Sark
AND
JOHN LINWOOD PITTS, ESQ., F.S.A. (Normandy) Managing
Director of the Guille-Allès Library, Guernsey
AND ALL THOSE GOOD FRIENDS IN THE ISLANDS WHO
HAVE SHOWN SO GREAT AN INTEREST IN THIS BOOK I
INSCRIBE THE SAME IN HEARTY RECOGNITION OF MANY
KINDNESSES

FOREWORD
_Sercq is a small exclusive land where the forty farm holdings to-day
are almost identical with those fixed by Helier de Carteret in the time
of Queen Elizabeth; where feudal observances which date back to the
time of Rollo, Duke of Normandy, are still the law of the land; and
where family names and records in some cases run back unbroken for
very many generations._

_To obviate any personal feeling, I desire to state that, to the best of my
belief, no present inhabitant of Sercq is in any way connected with any
of the principal characters named in this book._
_The name Carré is still an honoured one in the Island. It is pronounced
Caury._
_The numbers on the map refer to the farms and tenants in the year
1800--the approximate date of the story. As this map has been specially
compiled, and is, I believe, the only one of its kind in existence, it may
be of interest to some to find at the end of this volume a list of the
holdings and holders in Sercq about one hundred years ago._
* * * * *
_The photographs from which this book is illustrated were specially
taken for me at considerable expenditure of time and trouble by various
good friends in Sark and elsewhere. If, in one or two cases, we have
permitted ourselves some little license in the adaptation of the present
to the past, it is only for the purpose of presenting to the reader as
nearly as possible what was in the writer's mind when working on the
story._
* * * * *
_The map and list of the Forty Men of Sark and their properties in the
year 1800 were compiled for me from the old Island records, by my
friend Mr. W.A. Toplis, over twenty years resident in Sark, and for all
the time and labour he expended upon them I here make most grateful
acknowledgment._
* * * * *
_The length of the Coupée depends upon--one's feelings, one's
temperament, and the exact spots where it really begins and ends. To
the nervous it seems endless, and some have found themselves unable
to cross it under any conditions whatever. So high an authority as
Ansted gives it as 600 feet, others say 300; the simple fact being that,

unless one goes for the express methodic purpose of measuring it
(which no one ever does), all thought, save that of wonder and
admiration, is lost the moment one's foot falls upon it. The span from
cliff to cliff is probably something over 300 feet, while, from the dip of
the path in Sark to the clearing of the rise in Little Sark, it is probably
twice as much._

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE HOW PAUL MARTEL FELL OUT WITH SERCQ 1
CHAPTER II
HOW RACHEL CARRÉ WENT BACK TO HER FATHER 14
CHAPTER III
HOW TWO FOUGHT IN THE DARK 19
CHAPTER IV
HOW MARTEL RAISED THE CLAMEUR BUT FOUND NO
RELIEF 24
CHAPTER V
HOW CARETTE AND I WERE GIRL AND BOY TOGETHER 31
CHAPTER VI
HOW CARETTE CAME BY HER GOLDEN BRIDGE 43
CHAPTER VII

HOW I SHOWED ONE THE WAY TO THE BOUTIQUES 53
CHAPTER VIII
HOW I WENT THE FIRST TIME TO BRECQHOU 65
CHAPTER IX
HOW WE BEGAN