"The great contention of the sea and skies
Parted our fellowship;--But, hark! a sail!"
Cassio
Whatever may have been the result of the vice-governatore's further
inquiries and speculations that night, they were not known. After
consuming an hour in the lower part of the town, in and around the port,
he and the podestà sought their homes and their pillows, leaving the
lugger riding quietly at her anchor in the spot where she was last
presented to the reader's attention. If Raoul Yvard and Ghita had
another interview, too, it was so secretly managed as to escape all
observation, and can form no part of this narrative.
A Mediterranean morning, at midsummer, is one of those balmy and
soothing periods of the day that affect the mind as well as the body.
Everywhere we have the mellow and advancing light that precedes the
appearance of the sun--the shifting hues of the sky--that pearly
softness that seems to have been invented to make us love the works of
God's hand and the warm glow of the brilliant sun; but it is not
everywhere that these fascinating changes occur, on a sea whose blue
vies with the darkest depths of the void of space, beneath a climate
that is as winning as the scenes it adorns, and amid mountains whose
faces reflect every varying shade of light with the truth and the poetry
of nature. Such a morning as this last was that which succeeded the
night with which our tale opened, bringing with it the reviving
movements of the port and town. Italy, as a whole, is remarkable for an
appearance of quiet and repose that are little known in the more
bustling scenes of the greedier commerce of our own quarter of the
world, or, indeed, in those of most of the northern nations of Europe.
There is in her aspect, modes of living, and even in her habits of
business, an air of decayed gentility that is wanting to the ports,
shops, and marts of the more vulgar parts of the world; as if conscious
of having been so long the focus of human refinement, it was unbecoming,
in these later days, to throw aside all traces of her history and power.
Man, and the climate, too, seem in unison; one meeting the cares of life
with a _far niente_ manner that is singularly in accordance with the
dreamy and soothing atmosphere he respires.
Just as day dawned, the fall of a billet of wood on the deck of the
Feu-Follet gave the first intimation that any one was stirring in or
near the haven. If there had been a watch on board that craft throughout
the night--and doubtless such had been the case--it had been kept in so
quiet and unobtrusive a manner as to render it questionable to the
jealous eyes which had been riveted on her from the shore until long
past midnight. Now, however, everything was in motion, and in less than
five minutes after that billet of wood had fallen from the hands of the
cook, as he was about to light his galley fire, the tops of the hats and
caps of some fifty or sixty sailors were seen moving to and fro, just
above the upper edge of the bulwarks. Three minutes later, and two men
appeared near the knight-heads, each with his arms folded, looking at
the vessel's hawse, and taking a survey of the state of the harbor, and
of objects on the surrounding shore.
The two individuals who were standing in the conspicuous position named
were Raoul Yvard himself, and Ithuel Bolt. Their conversation was in
French, the part borne by the last being most execrably pronounced, and
paying little or no attention to grammar; but it is necessary that we
should render what was said by both into the vernacular, with the
peculiarities that belonged to the men.
"I see only the Austrian that is worth the trouble of a movement,"
quietly observed Raoul, whose eye was scanning the inner harbor, his own
vessel lying two hundred yards without it, it will be remembered--"and
she is light, and would scarce pay for sending her to Toulon. These
feluccas would embarrass us, without affording much reward, and then
their loss would ruin the poor devils of owners, and bring misery into
many a family."
"Well, that's a new idee, for a privateer!" said Ithuel sneeringly;
"luck's luck, in these matters, and every man must count on what war
turns up. I wish you'd read the history of _our_ revolution, and then
you'd ha' seen that liberty and equality are not to be had without some
ups and downs in fortin's and chances."
"The Austrian _might_ do," added Raoul, who paid little attention to his
companion's remarks, "if he were a streak or two lower in the
water--but, after all, E-too-_ell_,"--for so he pronounced the other's
name--"I do not like a capture that is made without any _éclat_, or
spirit, in the attack and defence."
"Well,"--this word Ithuel invariably pronounced, "wa-a-l"--"well, to my
notion, the most profitable and the most agreeable battles are the
shortest; and the pleasantest victories are them in which there's the
most prize money, Howsever, as that brig is only an Austrian, I care
little what you may detairmine to do with her; was she English, I'd head
a boat myself, to go in and tow her out here, expressly to have the
satisfaction of burning her. English ships make a cheerful fire!"
"And that would be a useless waste of property, and perhaps of blood,
and would do no one any good, Etoo_ell_."
"But it would do the accursed English _harm_, and that counts for a
something, in my reckoning. Nelson wasn't so over-scrupulous, at the
Nile, about burning your ships, Mr. Rule--"
"_Tonnerre!_ why do you always bring in that _malheureux _ Nile?--Is it
not enough that we were beaten--disgraced--destroyed--that a friend must
tell us of it so often?"
"You forget, Mr. Rule, that I was an _inimy, then_" returned Ithuel,
with a grin and a grim smile. "If you'll take the trouble to examine my
back, you'll find on it the marks of the lashes I got for just telling
my Captain that it was ag'in the grain for me, a republican as I was by
idee and natur', to fight other republicans. He told, me he would first
try the grain of my skin, and see how that would agree with what he
called my duty; and I must own, he got the best on't; I fit like a tiger
ag'in you, rather than be flogged twice the same day. Flogging on a sore
back is an awful argument!"
"And now has come the hour of revenge, _pauvre Etooell; _ this time you
are on the right side, and may fight with heart and mind those you so
much hate."
A long and gloomy silence followed, during which Raoul turned his face
aft, and stood looking at the movements of the men as they washed the
decks, while Ithuel seated himself on a knight-head, and his chin
resting on his hand, he sat ruminating, in bitterness of spirit, like
Milton's devil, in some of his dire cogitations, on the atrocious wrong
of which he had really been the subject. Bodies of men are proverbially
heartless. They commit injustice without reflection, and vindicate their
abuses without remorse. And yet it may be doubtful if either a nation or
an individual ever tolerated or was an accessory in a wrong, that the
act, sooner or later, did not recoil on the offending party, through
that mysterious principle of right which is implanted in the nature of
things, bringing forth its own results as the seed produces its grain,
and the tree its fruits; a supervision of holiness that it is usual to
term (and rightly enough, when we remember who created principles) the
providence of God. Let that people dread the future, who, in their
collective capacity, systematically encourage injustice of any sort;
since their own eventual demoralization will follow as a necessary
consequence, even though they escape punishment in a more direct form.
We shall not stop to relate the moody musings of the New Hampshire man.
Unnurtured, and, in many respects, unprincipled as he was, he had his
clear conceptions of the injustice of which he had been one among
thousands of other victims; and, at that moment, he would have held life
itself as a cheap sacrifice, could he have had his fill of revenge. Time
and again, while a captive on board the English ship in which he had
been immured for years, had he meditated the desperate expedient of
blowing up the vessel; and had not the means been wanting, mercenary and
selfish as he ordinarily seemed, he was every way equal to executing so
dire a scheme, in order to put an end to the lives of those who were the
agents in wronging him, and his own sufferings, together. The subject
never recurred to his mind without momentarily changing the current of
its thoughts, and tinging all his feelings with an intensity of
bitterness that it was painful to bear. At length, sighing heavily, he
rose from the knight-head, and turned toward the mouth of the bay, as if
to conceal from Raoul the expression of his countenance. This act,
however, was scarcely done, ere he started, and an exclamation escaped
him that induced his companion to turn quickly on his heel and face the
sea. There, indeed, the growing light enabled both to discover an object
that could scarcely be other than one of interest to men in their
situation.
It has been said already that the deep bay, on the side of which stands
the town of Porto Ferrajo, opens to the north, looking in the direction
of the headland of Piombino. On the right of the bay, the land, high and
broken, stretches several miles ere it forms what is called the Canal,
while, on the left, it terminates with the low bluff on which stands
the residence then occupied by Andrea Barrofaldi; and which has since
become so celebrated as the abode of one far greater than the worthy
vice-governatore. The haven lying under these heights, on the left of
the bay and by the side of the town, it followed, as a matter of course,
that the anchorage of the lugger was also in this quarter of the bay,
commanding a clear view to the north, in the direction of the main land,
as far as the eye could reach. The width of the Canal, or of the passage
between Elba and the Point of Piombino, may be some six or seven miles;
and at the distance of less than one mile from the northern end of the
former stands a small rocky islet, which has since become known to the
world as the spot on which Napoleon stationed a corporal's guard, by way
of taking possession, when he found his whole empire dwindled to the
sea-girt mountains in its vicinity. With the existence and position of
this island both Raoul and Ithuel were necessarily acquainted, for they
had seen it and noted its situation the previous night, though it had
escaped their notice that, from the place where the Feu-Follet had
brought up, it was not visible. In their first look to seaward, that
morning, which was ere the light had grown sufficiently strong to render
the houses on the opposite side of the bay distinct, an object had been
seen in this quarter which had then been mistaken for the rock; but by
this time the light was strong enough to show that it was a very
different thing. In a word, that which both Raoul and Ithuel had fancied
an islet was neither more nor less than a ship.
The stranger's head was to the northward, and his motion, before a light
southerly air, could not have exceeded a knot an hour. He had no other
canvas spread than his three topsails and jib; though his courses were
hanging in the brails. His black hull was just beginning to show its
details; and along the line of light yellow that enlivened his side were
visible the dark intervals of thirteen ports; a real gun frowning in
each. Although the hammocks were not stowed, and the hammock-cloths had
that empty and undressed look which is so common to a man-of-war in the
night, it was apparent that the ship had an upper deck, with
quarter-deck and forecastle batteries; or, in other words, that she was
a frigate. As she had opened the town of Porto Ferrajo several minutes
before she was herself seen from the Feu Follet, an ensign was hanging
from the end of her gaff, though there was not sufficient air to open
its folds, in a way to let the national character of the stranger
be known.
"Peste!" exclaimed Raoul Yvard, as soon as he had gazed a minute at the
stranger in silence; "a pretty _cul de sac_ are we in, if that gentleman
should happen to be an Englishman! What say you, Etooell; can _you_ make
out anything of that ensign--your eyes are the best in the lugger?"
"It is too much for any sight to detairmine, at this distance, and that
before the sun is risen; but, by having a glass ready, we shall soon
know. Five minutes will bring us the Great Luminary, as our minister
used to call him."
Ithuel had descended from the bulwark while speaking; and he now went
aft in quest of a glass, returning to his old station, bringing two of
the instruments; one of which he handed to his commander, while he kept
the other himself. In another minute both had levelled their glasses at
the stranger, whom each surveyed attentively, for some time, in
profound silence.
"_Pardie_!" exclaimed Raoul, "that ensign is the tri-color, or my eyes
are untrue to my own country. Let me see, Etooell; what ship of
forty-two, or forty-four, has the republic on this coast?"
"Not _that_, Monsieur Yvard," answered Ithuel, with a manner so changed,
and an emphasis so marked, as at once to draw his companion's attention
from the frigate to his own countenance; "not _that_, Monsieur
Capitaing. It is not easy for a bird to forget the cage in which he was
shut up for two years; if that is not the accursed Proserpine, I have
forgotten the cut of my own jib!"
"La Proserpine!" repeated Raoul, who was familiar with his shipmate's
adventures, and did not require to be told his meaning; "if you are not
mistaken, Etooell, le Feu-Follet needs put her lantern under a shade.
This is only a forty, if I can count her ports."
"I care nothing for ports or guns; it is the Proserpine; and the only
harm I wish her is, that she were at the bottom of the ocean. The
Proserpine, thirty-six, Captain Cuffe; though Captain Flog would have
been a better name for him. Yes, the Proserpine, thirty-six, Captain
Cuffe, Heaven bless her!"
"Bah!--this vessel has forty-four guns--now I can see to count them; I
make twenty-two of a side."
"Aye, that's just her measure--a thirty-six on the list and by rate, and
forty-four by count; twenty-six long eighteens below; twelve
thirty-twos, carronades, on her quarter-deck; and four more carronades,
with two barkers, for'ard. She'd just extinguish your Jack-o'-Lantern,
Monsieur Rule, at one broadside; for what are ten twelve-pound
carronades, and seventy men, to such a frigate?"
"I am not madman enough, Etooell, to dream of fighting a frigate, or
even a heavy sloop-of-war, with the force you have just mentioned; but I
have followed the sea too long to be alarmed before I am certain o£ my
danger. La Railleuse is just such a ship as that."
"Hearken to reason, Monsieur Rule," answered Ithuel earnestly; "La
Railleuse, nor no other French frigate, would show her colors to an
enemy's port; for it would be uselessly telling her errand. Now, an
English ship might show a French ensign, for _she_ always has it in her
power to change it; and then _she_ might be benefited by the cheat. The
Proserpine is French built, and has French legs, too, boots or no
boots"--here Ithuel laughed a little, involuntarily, but his face
instantly became serious again--"and I have heard she was a sister
vessel of the other. So much for size and appearance; but every shroud,
and port, and sail, about yonder craft, is registered on my back in a
way that no sponge will ever wash out."
"Sa-a-c-r-r-r-e," muttered Raoul between his teeth; "Etooell, if an
Englishman, he may very well take it into his head to come in here, and
perhaps anchor within half-a-cable's length of us! What think you of
that, _mon brave Américain?_"
"That it may very well come to pass; though one hardly sees, either,
what is to bring a cruiser into such a place as this. Every one hasn't
the curiosity of a Jack-o'-Lantern."
"_Mais que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère!--Bien;_ we must
take the weather as it comes; sometimes a gale, and sometimes a calm. As
he shows his own ensign so loyally, let us return the compliment, and
show ours. Hoist the ensign there aft."
"Which one, Monsieur?" demanded an old, demure-looking quartermaster,
who was charged with that duty, and who was never known to laugh; "the
captain will remember we came into port under the _drapeau_ of Monsieur
Jean Bull."
"_Bien_--hoist the drapeau of Monsieur Jean Bull again. We must brazen
it out, now we have put on the mask. Monsieur Lieutenant, clap on the
hawser, and run the lugger ahead, over her anchor, and see everything
clear for spreading our pocket-handkerchiefs. No one knows when le
Feu-Follet may have occasion to wipe her face. Ah!--now, Etooell, we
can make out his broadside fairly, he is heading more to the westward."
The two seamen levelled their glasses, and renewed their examinations.
Ithuel had a peculiarity that not only characterized the man, but which
is so common among Americans of his class as in a sense to be national.
On ordinary occasions he was talkative, and disposed to gossip; but,
whenever action and decision became necessary, he was thoughtful,
silent, and, though in a way of his own, even dignified. This last fit
was on him, and he waited for Raoul to lead the conversation. The
other, however, was disposed to be as reserved as himself, for he
quitted the knight-head, and took refuge from the splashing of the water
used in washing the decks, in his own cabin.
Two hours, though they brought the sun, with the activity and hum of the
morning, had made no great change in the relative positions of things
within and without the bay. The people of le Feu-Follet had breakfasted,
had got everything on board their little craft in its proper place, and
were moody, observant, and silent. One of the lessons that Ithuel had
succeeded in teaching his shipmates was to impress on them the necessity
of commanding their voluble propensities if they would wish to pass for
Englishmen. It is certain, more words would have been uttered in this
little lugger in one hour, had her crew been indulged to the top of
their bent, than would have been uttered in an English first-rate in
two; but the danger of using their own language, and the English
peculiarity of grumness, had been so thoroughly taught them, that her
people rather caricatured, than otherwise, _ce grand talent pour le
silence_ that was thought to distinguish their enemies. Ithuel, who had
a waggery of his own, smiled as he saw the seamen folding their arms,
throwing discontent and surliness into their countenances, and pacing
the deck singly, as if misanthropical and disdaining to converse,
whenever a boat came alongside from the shore. Several of these visitors
arrived in the course of the two hours mentioned; but the sentinel at
the gangway, who had his orders, repulsed every attempt to come on
board, pretending not to understand French when permission was asked in
that language.
Raoul had a boat's crew of four, all of whom had acquired the English,
like himself, in a prison-ship, and with these men he now prepared to
land; for, as yet, he had made little progress in the business which
brought him into his present awkward predicament, and he was not a man
to abandon an object so dear to him, lightly. Finding himself in a
dilemma, he was resolved to make an effort to reap, if possible, some
advantage from his critical situation. Accordingly, after he had taken
his coffee and given his orders, the boat's crew was called, and he left
the lugger's side. All this was done tranquilly, as if the appearance of
the stranger in the offing gave no trouble to any in le Feu-Follet.
On this occasion the boat pulled boldly into the little harbor, its
officer touching the shore at the common landing. Nor were the men in
any haste to return. They lounged about the quay, in waiting for their
captain, cheapening fruits, chatting with the women in such Italian as
they could muster, and affecting to understand the French of the old
sea-dogs that drew near them, all of whom knew more or less of that
universal language, with difficulty. That they were the objects of
suspicion, their captain had sufficiently warned them, and practice
rendered them all good actors. The time they remained in waiting for
Raoul was consequently spent in eluding attempts to induce them to
betray themselves, and in caricaturing Englishmen. Two of the four
folded their arms, endeavored to look surly, and paced the quay in
silence, refusing even to unbend to the blandishments of the gentler
sex, three or four of whom endeavored to insinuate themselves into their
confidence by offerings of fruit and flowers.
"Amico," said Annunziate, one of the prettiest girls of her class in
Porto Ferrajo, and who had been expressly employed by Vito Viti to
perform this office, "here are figs from the main land. Will you please
to eat a few, that when you go back to Inghilterra you may tell your
countrymen how we poor Elbans live?"
"Bad fig"--sputtered Jacques, Raoul's cockswain, to whom this offering
was made, and speaking in broken English; "better at 'ome. Pick up
better in ze street of Portsmout'!"
"But, Signore, you need not look as if they would hurt you, or bite
you; you can eat them and, take my word for it, you will find them as
pleasant as the melons of Napoli!"
"No melon good but English melon. English melon plenty as pomme de
terres--bah!"
"Yes, Signore, as the melons of Napoli," continued Annunziate, who did
not understand a syllable of the ungracious answers she received;
"Signor Vito Viti, our podestà, ordered me to offer these figs to the
forestieri--the Inglesi, who are in the bay--"
"God-dam," returned Jacques, in a quick, sententious manner, that was
intended to get rid of the fair tormentor, and which, temporarily at
least, was not without its effect.
But, leaving the boat's crew to be badgered in this manner until relief
came, as will be hereafter related, we must follow our hero in his way
through the streets of the town. Raoul, guided by an instinct, or having
some special object before his eyes, walked swiftly up the heights,
ascending to the promontory so often mentioned. As he passed, every eye
was turned on him, for, by this time, the distrust in the place was
general; and the sudden appearance of a frigate, wearing a French
ensign, before the port, had given rise to apprehensions of a much more
serious nature than any which could possibly attend the arrival of a
craft as light as the lugger, by herself. Vito Viti had long before gone
up the street, to see the vice-governatore; and eight or ten of the
principal men of the place had been summoned to a council, including the
two senior military dignitaries of the island. The batteries, it was
known, were manned; and although it would have puzzled the acutest mind
of Elba to give a reason why the French should risk so unprofitable an
attack as one on their principal port, long ere Raoul was seen among
them such a result was not only dreaded, but in a measure anticipated
with confidence. As a matter of course, then, every eye followed his
movements as he went with bounding steps up the narrow terraces of the
steep street, and the least of his actions was subjeected to the
narrowest and most jealous scrutiny.
The heights were again thronged with spectators of all ages and classes,
and of both sexes. The mantles and flowing dresses of females prevailed
as usual; for whatever is connected with curiosity is certain to collect
an undue proportion of a sex whose imaginations are so apt to get the
start of their judgments. On a terrace in front of the palace, as it was
the custom to designate the dwelling of the governor, was the group of
magnates, all of them paying the gravest attention to the smallest
change in the direction of the ship, which had now become an object of
general solicitude and apprehension. So intent, indeed, were they in
gazing at this apprehended enemy, that Raoul stood in front of Andrea
Barrofaldi, cap in hand, and bowing his salutation, before his approach
was even anticipated. This sudden and unannounced arrival created great
surprise, and some little confusion; one or two of the group turning
away instinctively, as it might be, to conceal the flushes that mounted
to their cheeks at being so unexpectedly confronted by the very man whom
the minute before they had been strongly denouncing.
"_Bon giorno_, Signor Vice-governatore," commenced Raoul, in his gay,
easy, and courteous manner, and certainly with an air that betrayed any
feeling but those of apprehension and guilt; "we have a fine morning on
the land, here; and apparently a fine frigate of the French republic in
the offing yonder."
"We were conversing of that vessel, Signor Smees," answered Andrea, "as
you approached. What, in your judgment, c an induce a Frenchman to
appear before our town in so menacing a manner?"
"Cospetto! you might as well ask me, Signore, what induces these
republicans to do a thousand other out-of-the-way things. What has made
them behead Louis XVI? What has made them overrun half of your Italy,
conquer Egypt, and drive the Austrians back upon their Danube?"
"To say nothing of their letting Nelsoni destroy them at Aboukir," added
Vito Viti, with a grunt.
"True, Signore, or letting Nelson, my gallant countryman, annihilate
them near the mouth of the Nile. I did not consider it proper to boast
of English glory, though that case, too, may very well be included. We
have several men in ze Ving-and-Ving who were in that glorious battle,
particularly our sailing-master, Etooell Bolt, who was on board Nelson's
own ship, having been accidentally sent on service from the frigate to
which he properly belonged, and carried off expressly to share, as it
might be, in the glory of this famous battle."
"I have seen the Signore," dryly remarked Andrea Barrofaldi--"_é uno
Americano?_"
"An American!" exclaimed Raoul, starting a little in spite of his
assumed indifference of manner; "why, yes, I believe Bolt _was_ born in
America--English America, you know, Signori, and that is much the same
thing as having been born in England herself. We look upon _ze Yankés_
as but a part of our own people, and take them into our service most
cheerfully."
"So the Signor Ituello has given us reason to believe; he is seemingly a
great lover of the English nation."
Raoul was uneasy; for he was entirely ignorant of all that had passed in
the wine-house, and he thought he detected irony in the manner of the
vice-governatore.
"Certainly, Signore," he answered, however, with unmoved steadiness;
"certainly, Signore, the Americani adore Inghilterra; and well they may,
considering all that great nation has done for them. But, Signor
Vice-governatore, I have come to offer you the service of my lugger,
should this Frenchman really intend mischief. We are small, it is true,
and our guns are but light; nevertheless we may break the frigate's
cabin-windows, while you are doing him still greater injury from these
heights. I trust you will assign ze Ving-and-Ving some honorable
station, should you come to blows with the republicans."
"And what particular service would it be most agreeable to you to
undertake, Signore?" inquired the vice-governatore, with considerate
courtesy; "we are no mariners, and must leave the choice to yourself.
The colonello, here, expects some firing, and has his artillerists
already at their guns."
"The preparation of Porto Ferrajo is celebrated among the mariners of
the Mediterranean, and, should the Frenchman venture within reach of
your shot, I expect to see him unrigged faster than if he were in a
dock-yard. As for ze leetl' Ving-and-Ving, in my opinion, while the
frigate is busy with these batteries, it might be well for us to steer
along the shore on the east side of the bay until we can get outside of
her, when we shall have the beggars between two fires. That was just
what Nelson did at Aboukir, Signor Podestà, a battle you seem so much
to admire."
"That would be a manoeuvre worthy of a follower of Nelsoni, Signore,"
observed the colonel, "if the metal of your guns were heavier. With
short pieces of twelve, however, you would hardly venture within reach
of long pieces of eighteen; although the first should be manned by
Inglese, and the last by Françese?"
"One never knows. At the Nile one of our fifties laid the Orient, a
three-decker, athwart-hawse, and did her lots of injury. The vaisseau,
in fact, was blown up. Naval combats are decided on principles
altogether different from engagements on the land, Signor Colonello."
"It must be so, truly," answered the soldier; "but what means this
movement? you, as a seaman, may be able to tell us, Capitano."
This drew all eyes to the frigate again, where, indeed, were movements
that indicated some important changes. As these movements have an
intimate connection with the incidents of the tale, it will be
necessary to relate them in a manner to render them more intelligible to
the reader.
The distance of the frigate from the town might now have been five
English miles. Of current there was none; and there being no tides in
the Mediterranean, the ship would have lain perfectly stationary all the
morning, but for a very light air from the southward. Before this air,
however, she had moved to the westward about a couple of miles, until
she had got the government-house nearly abeam. At the same time she had
been obliquely drawing nearer, which was the circumstance that produced
the alarm. With the sun had risen the wind, and a few minutes before the
colonel interrupted himself in the manner related, the topsails of the
stranger had swelled, and he began to move through the water at the rate
of some four or five knots the hour. The moment her people felt that
they had complete command of their vessel, as if waiting only for that
assurance, they altered her course and made sail. Putting her helm
a-starboard, the ship came close by the wind, with her head looking
directly in for the promontory, while her tacks were hauled on board,
and her light canvas aloft was loosened and spread to the breeze. Almost
at the same instant, for everything seemed to be done at once, and as by
instinct, the French flag was lowered, another went up in its place, and
a gun was fired to leeward--a signal of amity. As this second emblem of
nationality blew out, and opened to the breeze, the glasses showed the
white field and St. George's cross of the noble old ensign of England.
An exclamation of surprise and delight escaped the spectators on the
promontory, as their doubts and apprehensions were thus dramatically
relieved. No one thought of Raoul at that happy moment, though to him
there was nothing of new interest in the affair, with the exception of
the apparent intention of the stranger to enter the bay. As le
Feu-Follet lay in plain view from the offing, he had his doubts, indeed,
whether the warlike appearance of that craft was not the true reason of
this sudden change in the frigate's course. Still, lying as he did in a
port hostile to France, there was a probability that he might yet escape
without a very critical or close examination.
"Signor Smees, I felicitate you on this visit of a countryman," cried
Andrea Barrofaldi, a pacific man by nature, and certainly no warrior,
and who felt too happy at the prospects of passing a quiet day, to feel
distrust at such a moment; "I shall do you honor in my communications
with Florence, for the spirit and willingness which you have shown in
the wish to aid us on this trying occasion."
"Signor Vice-governatore, do not trouble yourself to dwell on my poor
services," answered Raoul, scarce caring to conceal the smile that
struggled about his handsome mouth; "think rather of those of these
gallant signori, who greatly regret that an opportunity for gaining
distinction has been lost. But here are signals that must be meant for
us--I hope my stupid fellows will be able to answer them in my absence."
It was fortunate for le Feu-Follet, perhaps, that her commander was not
on board, when the stranger, the Proserpine, the very ship that Ithuel
so well knew, made her number. The mystification that was to follow was
in much better hands while conducted by the New Hampshire man than it
could possibly be in his own, Ithuel answered promptly, though what, he
did not know himself; but he took good care that the flags he showed
should become so entangled as not to be read by those in the frigate,
while they had every appearance of being hoisted fearlessly and in
good faith.