"Filled with the face of heaven, which from afar
Comes down upon the waters; all its hues,
From the rich sunset to the rising star,
Their magical variety diffuse:
And now they change: a paler shadow strews
Its mantle o'er the mountains; parting day
Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues
With a new color as it gasps away,
The last still loveliest, till--'tis gone--and all is grey."
_Childe Harold._
The charms of the Tyrrhenian Sea have been sung since the days of Homer.
That the Mediterranean generally, and its beautiful boundaries of Alps
and Apennines, with its deeply indented and irregular shores, forms the
most delightful region of the known earth, in all that relates to
climate, productions, and physical formation, will be readily enough
conceded by the traveller. The countries that border on this midland
water, with their promontories buttressing a mimic ocean--their
mountain-sides teeming with the picturesque of human life--their heights
crowned with watch-towers--their rocky shelves consecrated by
hermitages, and their unrivalled sheet dotted with sails, rigged, as it
might be, expressly to produce effect in a picture, form a sort of world
apart, that is replete with charms which not only fascinate the
beholder, but which linger in the memories of the absent like visions of
a glorious past.
Our present business is with this fragment of a creation that is so
eminently beautiful, even in its worst aspects, but which is so often
marred by the passions of man, in its best. While all admit how much
nature has done for the Mediterranean, none will deny that, until quite
recently, it has been the scene of more ruthless violence, and of deeper
personal wrongs, perhaps, than any other portion of the globe. With
different races, more widely separated by destinies than even by origin,
habits, and religion, occupying its northern and southern shores, the
outwork, as it might be, of Christianity and Mohammedanism, and of an
antiquity that defies history, the bosom of this blue expanse has
mirrored more violence, has witnessed more scenes of slaughter, and
heard more shouts of victory, between the days of Agamemnon and Nelson,
than all the rest of the dominions of Neptune together. Nature and the
passions have united to render it like the human countenance, which
conceals by its smiles and godlike expression the furnace that so often
glows within the heart, and the volcano that consumes our happiness. For
centuries, the Turk and the Moor rendered it unsafe for the European to
navigate these smiling coasts; and when the barbarian's power
temporarily ceased, it was merely to give place to the struggles of
those who drove him from the arena.
The circumstances which rendered the period that occurred between the
years 1790 and 1815 the most eventful of modern times are familiar to
all; though the incidents which chequered that memorable quarter of a
century have already passed into history. All the elements of strife
that then agitated the world appear now to have subsided as completely
as if they owed their existence to a remote age; and living men recall
the events of their youth as they regard the recorded incidents of other
centuries. Then, each month brought its defeat or its victory; its
account of a government overturned, or of a province conquered. The
world was agitated like men in a tumult. On that epoch the timid look
back with wonder; the young with doubt; and the restless with envy.
The years 1798 and 1799 were two of the most memorable of this
ever-memorable period; and to that stirring and teeming season we must
carry the mind of the reader in order to place it in the midst of the
scenes it is our object to portray.
Toward the close of a fine day in the month of August, a light,
fairy-like craft was fanning her way before a gentle westerly air into
what is called the Canal of Piombino, steering easterly. The rigs of the
Mediterranean are proverbial for their picturesque beauty and
quaintness, embracing the xebeque, the felucca, the polacre, and the
bombarda, or ketch; all unknown, or nearly so, to our own seas; and
occasionally the lugger. The latter, a species of craft, however, much
less common in the waters of Italy than in the Bay of Biscay and the
British Channel, was the construction of the vessel in question; a
circumstance that the mariners who eyed her from the shores of Elba
deemed indicative of mischief. A three-masted lugger, that spread a wide
breadth of canvas, with a low, dark hull, relieved by a single and
almost imperceptible line of red beneath her channels, and a waist so
deep that nothing was visible above it but the hat of some mariner
taller than common, was considered a suspicious vessel; and not even a
fisherman would have ventured out within reach of a shot, so long as her
character was unknown. Privateers, or corsairs, as it was the fashion to
term them (and the name, with even its English signification, was often
merited by their acts), not unfrequently glided down that coast; and it
was sometimes dangerous for those who belonged to friendly nations to
meet them, in moments when the plunder that a relic of barbarism still
legalizes had failed.
The lugger was actually of about one hundred and eighty tons
admeasurement, but her dark paint and low hull gave her an appearance of
being much smaller than she really was; still, the spread of her canvas,
as she came down before the wind, wing-and-wing, as seamen term it, or
with a sail fanning like the heavy pinions of a sea-fowl, on each side,
betrayed her pursuits; and, as has been intimated, the mariners on the
shore who watched her movements shook their heads in distrust as they
communed among themselves, in very indifferent Italian, concerning her
destination and object. This observation, with its accompanying
discourse, occurred on the rocky bluff above the town of Porto Ferrajo,
in the Island of Elba, a spot that has since become so renowned as the
capital of the mimic dominion of Napoleon. Indeed, the very dwelling
which was subsequently used by the fallen emperor as a palace stood
within a hundred yards of the speakers, looking out toward the entrance
of the canal, and the mountains of Tuscany; or rather of the little
principality of Piombino, the system of merging the smaller in the
larger states of Europe not having yet been brought into extensive
operation. This house, a building of the size of a better sort of
country residence of our own, was then, as now, occupied by the
Florentine governor of the Tuscan portion of the island. It stands on
the extremity of a low rocky promontory that forms the western ramparts
of the deep, extensive bay, on the side of which, ensconced behind a
very convenient curvature of the rocks, which here incline westward in
the form of a hook, lies the small port, completely concealed from the
sea, as if in dread of visits like those which might be expected from
craft resembling the suspicious stranger. This little port, not as large
in itself as a modern dock in places like London or Liverpool, was
sufficiently protected against any probable dangers, by suitable
batteries; and as for the elements, a vessel laid upon a shelf in a
closet would be scarcely more secure. In this domestic little basin,
which, with the exception of a narrow entrance, was completely
surrounded by buildings, lay a few feluccas, that traded between the
island and the adjacent main, and a solitary Austrian ship, which had
come from the head of the Adriatic in quest of iron.
At the moment of which we are writing, however, but a dozen living
beings were visible in or about all these craft. The intelligence that
a strange lugger, resembling the one described, was in the offing, and
had drawn nearly all the mariners ashore; and most of the habitués of
the port had followed them up the broad steps of the crooked streets
which led to the heights behind the town; or to the rocky elevation that
overlooks the sea from northeast to west. The approach of the lugger
produced some such effect on the mariners of this unsophisticated and
little frequented port, as that of the hawk is known to excite among the
timid tenants of the barn-yard. The rig of the stranger had been noted
two hours before by one or two old coasters, who habitually passed their
idle moments on the heights, examining the signs of the weather, and
indulging in gossip; and their conjectures had drawn to the Porto
Ferrajo mall some twenty men, who fancied themselves, or who actually
were, _cognoscenti_ in matters of the sea. When, however, the low, long,
dark hull, which upheld such wide sheets of canvas, became fairly
visible, the omens thickened, rumors spread, and hundreds collected on
the spot, which, in Manhattanese parlance, would probably have been
called a battery. Nor would the name have been altogether inappropriate,
as a small battery was established there, and that, too, in a position
which would easily throw a shot two-thirds of a league into the offing;
or about the distance that the stranger was now from the shore.
Tommaso Tonti was the oldest mariner of Elba, and luckily, being a
sober, and usually a discreet man, he was the oracle of the island in
most things that related to the sea. As each citizen, wine-dealer,
grocer, innkeeper, or worker in iron, came up on the height, he
incontinently inquired for Tonti, or 'Maso, as he was generally called;
and getting the bearings and distance of the gray-headed old seaman, he
invariably made his way to his side, until a group of some two hundred
men, women, and children had clustered near the person of the _pilota_,
as the faithful gather about a favorite expounder of the law, in moments
of religious excitement. It was worthy of remark, too, with how much
consideration this little crowd of gentle Italians treated their aged
seaman, on this occasion; none bawling out their questions, and all
using the greatest care not to get in front of his person, lest they
might intercept his means of observation. Five or six old sailors, like
himself, were close at his side; these, it is true, did not hesitate to
speak as became their experience. But Tonti had obtained no small part
of his reputation by exercising great moderation in delivering his
oracles, and perhaps by seeming to know more than he actually revealed.
He was reserved, therefore; and while his brethren of the sea ventured
on sundry conflicting opinions concerning the character of the stranger,
and a hundred idle conjectures had flown from mouth to mouth, among the
landsmen and females, not a syllable that could commit the old man
escaped his lips. He let the others talk at will; as for himself, it
suited his habits, and possibly his doubts, to maintain a grave and
portentous silence.
We have spoken of females; as a matter of course, an event like this, in
a town of some three or four thousand souls, would be likely to draw a
due proportion of the gentler sex to the heights. Most of them contrived
to get as near as possible to the aged seaman, in order to obtain the
first intelligence, that it might be the sooner circulated; but it would
seem that among the younger of these there was also a sort of oracle of
their own, about whose person gathered a dozen of the prettiest girls;
either anxious to hear what Ghita might have to say in the premises, or,
perhaps, influenced by the pride and modesty of their sex and condition,
which taught them to maintain a little more reserve than was necessary
to the less refined portion of their companions. In speaking of
condition, however, the words must be understood with an exceedingly
limited meaning. Porto Ferrajo had but two classes of society, the
tradespeople and the laborers; although there were, perhaps, a dozen
exceptions in the persons of a few humble functionaries of the
government, an avvocato, a medico, and a few priests. The governor of
the island was a Tuscan of rank, but he seldom honored the place with
his presence; and his deputy was a professional man, a native of the
town, whose original position was too well known to allow him to give
himself airs on the spot where he was born. Ghita's companions, then,
were daughters of shopkeepers, and persons of that class who, having
been taught to read, and occasionally going to Leghorn, besides being
admitted by the deputy to the presence of his housekeeper, had got to
regard themselves as a little elevated above the more vulgar curiosity
of the less cultivated girls of the port. Ghita herself, however, owed
her ascendency to her qualities, rather than to the adventitious
advantage of being a grocer's or an innkeeper's daughter, her origin
being unknown to most of those around her, as indeed was her family
name. She had been landed six weeks before, and left by one who passed
for her father, at the inn of Christoforo Dovi, as a boarder, and had
acquired all her influence, as so many reach notoriety in our own simple
society, by the distinction of having travelled; aided, somewhat, by her
strong sense, great decision of character, perfect modesty and propriety
of deportment, with a form which was singularly graceful and feminine,
and a face that, while it could scarcely be called beautiful, was in the
highest degree winning and attractive. No one thought of asking her
family name; and she never appeared to deem it necessary to mention it.
Ghita was sufficient; it was familiar to every one; and, although there
were two or three others of the same appellation in Porto Ferrajo, this,
by common consent, got to be _the_ Ghita, within a week after she
had landed.
Ghita, it was known, had travelled, for she had publicly reached Elba in
a felucca, coming, as was said, from the Neapolitan states. If this were
true, she was probably the only person of her sex in the town who had
ever seen Vesuvius, or planted her eyes on the wonders of a part of
Italy that has a reputation second only to that of Rome. Of course, if
any girl in Porto Ferrajo could imagine the character of the stranger it
must be Ghita; and it was on this supposition that she had unwittingly,
and, if the truth must be owned, unwillingly, collected around her a
_clientelle_ of at least a dozen girls of her own age, and apparently of
her own class. The latter, however, felt no necessity for the reserve
maintained by the curious who pressed near 'Maso; for, while they
respected their guest and friend, and would rather listen to her
surmises than to those of any other person, they had such a prompting
desire to hear their own voices that not a minute escaped without a
question, or a conjecture, both volubly and quite audibly expressed. The
interjections, too, were somewhat numerous, as the guesses were crude
and absurd. One said it was a vessel with despatches from Livorno,
possibly with "His Eccellenza" on board; but she was reminded that
Leghorn lay to the north, and not to the west. Another thought it was a
cargo of priests, going from Corsica to Rome; but she was told that
priests were not in sufficient favor just then in France, to get a
vessel so obviously superior to the ordinary craft of the Mediterranean,
to carry them about. While a third, more imaginative than either,
ventured to doubt whether it was a vessel at all; deceptive appearances
of this sort not being of rare occurrence, and usually taking the aspect
of something out of the ordinary way.
"_Si_," said Annina, "but that would be a miracle, Maria; and why should
we have a miracle, now that Lent and most of the holidays are past? _I_
believe it is a real vessel."
The others laughed, and, after a good deal of eager chattering on the
subject, it was quite generally admitted that the stranger was a _bona
fide_ craft, of some species or another, though all agreed she was not a
felucca, a bombarda, or a sparanara. All this time Ghita was thoughtful
and silent; quite as much so, indeed, as Tommaso himself, though from a
very different motive. Nothwithstanding all the gossip, and the many
ludicrous opinions of her companions, her eyes scarcely turned an
instant from the lugger, on which they seemed to be riveted by a sort of
fascination. Had there been one there sufficiently unoccupied to observe
this interesting girl, he might have been struck with the varying
expression of a countenance that was teeming with sensibility, and which
too often reflected the passing emotions of its mistress's mind. Now an
expression of anxiety, and even of alarm, would have been detected by
such an observer, if acute enough to separate these emotions, in the
liveliness of sentiment, from the more vulgar feelings of her
companions; and now, something like gleamings of delight and happiness
flashed across her eloquent countenance. The color came and went often;
and there was an instant, during which the lugger varied her course,
hauling to the wind, and then falling off again, like a dolphin at its
sports, when the radiance of the pleasure that glowed about her soft
blue eyes rendered the girl perfectly beautiful. But none of these
passing expressions were noticed by the garrulous group around the
stranger female, who was left very much to the indulgence of the
impulses that gave them birth, unquestioned, and altogether unsuspected.
Although the cluster of girls had, with feminine sensitiveness, gathered
a little apart from the general crowd, there were but a few yards
between the spot where it stood and that occupied by 'Maso; so that,
when the latter spoke, an attentive listener among the former might hear
his words. This was an office that Tonti did not choose to undertake,
however, until he was questioned by the podestà, Vito Viti, who now
appeared on the hill in person, puffing like a whale that rises to
breathe, from the vigor of his ascent.
"What dost thou make of her, good 'Maso?" demanded the magistrate, after
he had examined the stranger himself some time in silence, feeling
authorized, in virtue of his office, to question whom he pleased.
"Signore, it is a lugger," was the brief, and certainly the accurate
reply.
"Aye, a lugger; we all understand that, neighbor Tonti; but what sort of
a lugger? There are felucca-luggers, and polacre-luggers, and
bombarda-luggers, and all sorts of luggers; which sort of lugger
is this?"
"Signor Podestà, this is not the language of the port. We call a
felucca, a felucca; a bombarda, a bombarda; a polacre, a polacre; and a
lugger, a lugger. This is therefore a lugger."
'Maso spoke authoritatively, for he felt that he was now not out of his
depth, and it was grateful to him to let the public know how much better
he understood all these matters than a magistrate. On the other hand,
the podestà was nettled, and disappointed into the bargain, for he
really imagined he was drawing nice distinctions, much as it was his
wont to do in legal proceedings; and it was his ambition to be thought
to know something of everything.
"Well, Tonti," answered Signor Viti, in a protecting manner, and with an
affable smile, "as this is not an affair that is likely to go to the
higher courts at Florence, your explanations may be taken as sufficient,
and I have no wish to disturb them--a lugger is a lugger."
"Si, Signore; that is just what we say in the port. A lugger is a
lugger."
"And yonder strange craft, you maintain, and at need are ready to swear,
is a lugger?"
Now 'Maso seeing no necessity for any oath in the affair, and being
always somewhat conscientious in such matters, whenever the custom-house
officers did not hold the book, was a little startled at this
suggestion, and he took another and a long look at the stranger before
he answered.
"Si, Signore," he replied, after satisfying his mind once more, through
his eyes, "I _will_ swear that the stranger yonder is a lugger."
"And canst thou add, honest Tonti, of what nation? The _nation_ is of
as much moment in these troubled times, as the _rig_."
"You say truly, Signor Podestà; for if an Algerine, or a Moor, or even a
Frenchman, he will be an unwelcome visitor in the Canal of Elba. There
are many different signs about him, that sometimes make me think he
belongs to one people, and then to another; and I crave your pardon if I
ask a little leisure to let him draw nearer, before I give a
positive opinion."
As this request was reasonable, no objection was raised. The podestà
turned aside, and observing Ghita, who had visited his niece, and of
whose intelligence he entertained a favorable opinion, he drew nearer to
the girl, determined to lose a moment in dignified trifling.
"Honest 'Maso, poor fellow, is sadly puzzled," he observed, smiling
benevolently, as if in pity for the pilot's embarrassment; "he wishes to
persuade us that the strange craft yonder is a lugger, though he cannot
himself say to what country she belongs!"
"It is a lugger, Signore," returned the girl, drawing a long breath, as
if relieved by hearing the sound of her own voice.
"How! dost thou pretend to be so skilled in vessels as to distinguish
these particulars at the distance of a league?"
"I do not think it a league, Signore--not more than half a league; and
the distance lessens fast, though the wind is so light. As for knowing a
lugger from a felucca, it is as easy as to know a house from a church,
or one of the reverend padri, in the streets, from a mariner."
"Aye, so I would have told 'Maso on the spot, had the obstinate old
fellow been inclined to hear me. The distance is just about what you
say; and nothing is easier than to see that the stranger is a lugger. As
to the nation--"
"That may not be so easily told, Signore, unless the vessel show us her
nag."
"By San Antonio! thou art right, child; and it is fitting she should
show us her flag. Nothing has a right to approach so near the port of
his Imperial and Royal Highness, that does not show its flag, thereby
declaring its honest purpose and its nation. My friends, are the guns in
the battery loaded as usual?"
The answer being in the affirmative, there was a hurried consultation
among some of the principal men in the crowd, and then the podestà
walked toward the government-house with an important air. In five
minutes, soldiers were seen in the batteries, and preparations were made
for levelling an eighteen-pounder in the direction of the stranger. Most
of the females turned aside, and stopped their ears, the battery being
within a hundred yards of the spot where they stood; but Ghita, with a
face that was pale certainly, though with an eye that was steady, and
without the least indications of fear, as respected herself, intensely
watched every movement. When it was evident the artillerists were about
to fire, anxiety induced her to break silence.
"They surely will not aim _at_ the lugger!" she exclaimed. "_That_
cannot be necessary, Signor Podestà, to make the stranger hoist his
flag. Never have I seen _that_ done in the south."
"You are unacquainted with our Tuscan bombardiers, Signorina," answered
the magistrate, with a bland smile, and an exulting gesture. "It is well
for Europe that the grand duchy is so small, since such troops might
prove even more troublesome than the French!"
Ghita, however, paid no attention to this touch of provincial pride,
but, pressing her hands on her heart, she stood like a statue of
suspense, while the men in the battery executed their duty. In a minute
the match was applied, and the gun was discharged. Though all her
companions uttered invocations to the saints, and other exclamations,
and some even crouched to the earth in terror, Ghita, the most delicate
of any in appearance, and with more real sensibility than all united
expressed in her face, stood firm and erect. The flash and the
explosion evidently had no effect on her; not an artillerist among them
was less unmoved in frame, at the report, than this slight girl. She
even imitated the manner of the soldiers, by turning to watch the flight
of the shot, though she clasped her hands as she did so, and appeared to
wait the result with trembling. The few seconds of suspense were soon
past, when the ball was seen to strike the water fully a quarter of a
mile astern of the lugger, and to skip along the placid sea for twice
that distance further, when it sank to the bottom by its own gravity.
"Santa Maria be praised!" murmured the girl, a smile half pleasure, half
irony, lighting her face, as unconsciously to herself she spoke, "these
Tuscan artillerists are no fatal marksmen!"
"That was most dexterously done, bella Ghita!" exclaimed the magistrate,
removing his two hands from his ears; "that was amazingly well aimed!
Another such shot as far ahead, with a third fairly between the two, and
the stranger will learn to respect the rights of Tuscany. What say'st
thou now, honest 'Maso--will this lugger tell us her country, or will
she further brave our power?"
"If wise, she will hoist her ensign; and yet I see no signs of
preparations for such an act."
Sure enough the stranger, though quite within effective range of shot
from the heights, showed no disposition to gratify the curiosity, or to
appease the apprehensions, of those in the town. Two or three of her
people were visible in her rigging, but even these did not hasten their
work, or in any manner seem deranged at the salutation they had just
received. After a few minutes, however, the lugger jibed her mainsail,
and then hauled up a little, so as to look more toward the headland, as
if disposed to steer for the bay, by doubling the promontory. This
movement caused the artillerists to suspend their own, and the lugger
had fairly come within a mile of the cliffs, ere she lazily turned aside
again, and shaped her course once more in the direction of the entrance
of the Canal. This drew another shot, which effectually justified the
magistrate's eulogy, for it certainly flew as much ahead of the stranger
as the first had flown astern.
"There, Signore," cried Ghita eagerly, as she turned to the magistrate,
"they are about to hoist their ensign, for now they know your wishes.
The soldiers surely will not fire again!"
"That would be in the teeth of the law of nations, Signorina, and a blot
on Tuscan civilization. Ah! you perceive the artillerists are aware of
what you say, and are putting aside their tools. Cospetto! 'tis a
thousand pities, too, they couldn't fire the third shot, that you might
see it strike the lugger; as yet you have only beheld their
preparations."
"It is enough, Signor Podestà," returned Ghita, smiling, for she could
smile now that she saw the soldiers intended no further mischief; "we
have all heard of your Elba gunners, and what I _have_ seen convinces me
of what they can do, when there is occasion. Look, Signore! the lugger
is about to satisfy our curiosity."
Sure enough, the stranger saw fit to comply with the usages of nations.
It has been said, already, that the lugger was coming down before the
wind wing-and-wing, or with a sail expanded to the air on each side of
her hull, a disposition of the canvas that gives to the felucca, and to
the lugger in particular, the most picturesque of all their graceful
attitudes. Unlike the narrow-headed sails that a want of hands has
introduced among ourselves, these foreign, we might almost say
classical, mariners send forth their long pointed yards aloft, confining
the width below by the necessary limits of the sheet, making up for the
difference in elevation by the greater breadth of their canvas. The idea
of the felucca's sails, in particular, would seem to have been literally
taken from the wing of the large sea-fowl, the shape so nearly
corresponding that, with the canvas spread in the manner just mentioned,
one of those light craft has a very close resemblance to the gull or
the hawk, as it poises itself in the air or is sweeping down upon its
prey. The lugger has less of the beauty that adorns a picture, perhaps,
than the strictly latine rig; but it approaches so near it as to be
always pleasing to the eye, and, in the particular evolution described,
is scarcely less attractive. To the seaman, however, it brings with it
an air of greater service, being a mode of carrying canvas that will
buffet with the heaviest gales or the roughest seas, while it appears so
pleasant to the eye in the blandest airs and smoothest water.
The lugger that was now beneath the heights of Elba had three masts,
though sails were spread only on the two that were forward. The third
mast was stepped on the taffrail; it was small, and carried a little
sail, that, in English, is termed a jigger, its principal use being to
press the bows of the craft up to the wind, when close-hauled, and
render her what is termed weatherly. On the present occasion, there
could scarcely be said to be anything deserving the name of wind, though
Ghita felt her cheek, which was warmed with the rich blood of her
country, fanned by an air so gentle that occasionally it blew aside
tresses that seemed to vie with the floss silk of her native land. Had
the natural ringlets been less light, however, so gentle a respiration
of the sea air could scarcely have disturbed them. But the lugger had
her lightest duck spread--reserving the heavier canvas for the
storms--and it opened like the folds of a balloon, even before these
gentle impulses; occasionally collapsing, it is true, as the
ground-swell swung the yards to and fro, but, on the whole, standing out
and receiving the air as if guided more by volition than any mechanical
power. The effect on the hull was almost magical; for, notwithstanding
the nearly imperceptible force of the propelling power, owing to the
lightness and exquisite mould of the craft, it served to urge her
through the water at the rate of some three or four knots in the hour;
or quite as fast as an ordinarily active man is apt to walk. Her motion
was nearly unobservable to all on board, and might rather be termed
gliding than sailing, the ripple under her cut-water not much exceeding
that which is made by the finger as it is moved swiftly through the
element; still the slightest variation of the helm changed her course,
and this so easily and gracefully as to render her deviations and
inclinations like those of the duck. In her present situation, too, the
jigger, which was brailed, and hung festooned from its light yard, ready
for use, should occasion suddenly demand it, added singularly to the
smart air which everything wore about this craft, giving her, in the
seaman's eyes, that particularly knowing and suspicious look which had
awakened 'Maso's distrust.
The preparations to show the ensign, which caught the quick and
understanding glance of Ghita, and which had not escaped even the duller
vision of the artillerists, were made at the outer end of this
jigger-yard, A boy appeared on the taffrail, and he was evidently
clearing the ensign-halyards for that purpose. In half a minute,
however, he disappeared; then a flag rose steadily, and by a continued
pull, to its station. At first the bunting hung suspended in a line, so
as to evade all examination; but, as if everything on board this light
craft were on a scale as airy and buoyant as herself, the folds soon
expanded, showing a white field, traversed at right angles with a red
cross, and having a union of the same tint in its upper and
inner corner.
"_Inglese_!" exclaimed 'Maso, infinitely aided in this conjecture by the
sight of the stranger's ensign--"Si, Signore; it is an Englishman; I
_thought_ so, from the first, but as the lugger is not a common rig for
vessels of that nation, I did not like to risk anything by saying it."
"Well, honest Tommaso, it is a happiness to have a mariner as skilful as
yourself, in these troublesome times, at one's elbow! I do not know how
else we should ever have found out the stranger's country. An Inglese!
Corpo di Bacco! Who would have thought that a nation so maritime, and
which lies so far off, would send so small a craft this vast distance!
Why, Ghita, it is a voyage from Elba to Livorno, and yet, I dare say
England is twenty times further."
"Signore, I know little of England, but I have heard that it lies
beyond our own sea. This is the flag of the country, however; for _that_
have I often beheld. Many ships of that nation come upon the coast,
further south."
"Yes, it is a great country for mariners; though they tell me it has
neither wine nor oil. They are allies of the emperor, too; and deadly
enemies of the French, who have done so much harm in upper Italy. That
is something, Ghita, and every Italian should honor the flag. I fear the
stranger does not intend to enter our harbor!"
"He steers as if he did not, certainly, Signor Podestà," said Ghita,
sighing so gently that the respiration was audible only to herself.
"Perhaps he is in search of some of the French, of which they say so
many were seen, last year, going east."
"Aye, that was truly an enterprise!" answered the magistrate,
gesticulating on a large scale, and opening his eyes by way of
accompaniments. "General Bonaparte, he who had been playing the devil in
the Milanese and the states of the Pope, for the last two years, sailed,
they sent us word, with two or three hundred ships, the saints at first
knew whither. Some said, it was to destroy the holy sepulchre; some to
overturn the Grand Turk; and some thought to seize the islands. There
was a craft in here, the same week, which said he had got possession of
the Island of Malta; in which case we might look out for trouble in
Elba. I had my suspicions, from the first!"
"All this I heard at the time, Signore, and my uncle probably could tell
you more--how we all felt at the tidings!"
"Well, that is all over now, and the French are in Egypt. Your uncle,
Ghita, has gone upon the main, I hear?" this was said inquiringly, and
it was intended to be said carelessly; but the podestà could not prevent
a glance of suspicion from accompanying the question.
"Signore, I believe he has, but I know little of his affairs. The time
has come, however, when I ought to expect him. See, Eccellenza," a title
that never failed to mollify the magistrate, and turn his attention from
others entirely to himself, "the lugger really appears disposed to look
into your bay, if not actually to enter it!"
This sufficed to change the discourse. Nor was it said altogether
without reason; the lugger, which by this time had passed the western
promontory, actually appearing disposed to do as Ghita conjectured. She
jibed her mainsail--brought both sheets of canvas on her larboard side,
and luffed a little, so as to cause her head to look toward the opposite
side of the bay, instead of standing on, as before, in the direction of
the canal. This change in the lugger's course produced a general
movement in the crowd, which began to quit the heights, hastening to
descend the terraced streets, in order to reach the haven. 'Maso and the
podestà led the van, in this descent; and the girls, with Ghita in their
midst, followed with equal curiosity, but with eager steps. By the time
the throng was assembled on the quays, in the streets, on the decks of
feluccas, or at other points that commanded the view, the stranger was
seen gliding past, in the centre of the wide and deep bay, with his
jigger hauled out, and his sheets aft, looking up nearly into the wind's
eye, if that could be called wind which was still little more than the
sighing of the classical zephyr. His motion was necessarily slow, but it
continued light, easy, and graceful. After passing the entrance of the
port a mile or more, he tacked and looked up toward the haven. By this
time, however, he had got so near in to the western cliffs, that their
lee deprived him of all air; and, after keeping his canvas open half an
hour in the little roads, it was all suddenly drawn to the yards, and
the lugger anchored.