Their descendants had continued
to occupy the same district. Who they were, whether pure Northmen or of
some mixed race, it would be idle to conjecture: they were originally
put down by the islanders as Sarrazins, that being the name under which
the simple people classed all pirates; the strangers, however, resented
this description, and had consequently come to be spoken of as Les
Voizins, a definition to which no exception could be taken. Hardy and
warlike, quick of temper and rough of speech, they had an undisputed
ascendancy over the natives, to whom, though dangerous if provoked, they
had often given powerful aid in times of peril. On the whole they made
not bad neighbours, but a condition was imposed by them the violation
of which was never forgiven: no native was permitted, under any pretext,
to enter their territory; death was the sure fate of an intruder found
in Rocquaine Bay or setting foot in the Voizin hills or valleys.
Whatever may have been the cause of this regulation the result had been
to keep the race as pure as it was on the day of the first landing.
Now it was in the Terre des Voizins that Jean had resolved to seek his
beloved, and his resolution was unalterable.
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