"Within our bay, one stormy night,
The isle's men saw boats make for shore,
With here and there a dancing light
That flashed on man and oar.
When hailed, the rowing stopped, and all was dark.
Ha! lantern work!--We'll home! They're playing shark."
DANA.
It was dark when Raoul quitted the government-house, leaving Andrea
Barrofaldi and Vito Viti in the library of the former. No sooner was the
young seaman's back turned, than the vice-governatore, who was in a
humor to display his acquirements, resumed a discussion that he had
found so agreeable to his self-esteem.
"It is easy to see, good Vito Viti, that this young Inglese is a gentle
of noble birth, though not of a liberal education," he said; "doubtless
his father, Milordo Smees, has a large family, and the usages of England
are different from those of Italy, in respect to birthright. There, the
eldest son alone inherits the honors of the family, while the cadets are
put into the army and navy to earn new distinctions. Nelsoni is the son
of a priest, I hear--"
"Cospetto! of a padre! Signor Vice-governatore," interrupted the
podestà--"it is most indecent to _own_ it. A priest must be possessed of
the devil himself to _own_ his issue; though issue he may
certainly have."
"There, again, good Vito, it is different with the Luterani and us
Catholics. The priests of England, you will please remember, marry,
while ours do not."
"I should not like to be shrived by such a padre! The man would be
certain to tell his wife all I confessed; and the saints could only say
what would be the end on't. Porto Ferrajo would soon be too hot to hold
an honest man--aye, or even an honest woman in the bargain."
"But the Luterani do not confess, and are never shrived at all, you will
remember."
"San Stefano!--How do they expect, then, ever to get to heaven?"
"I will not answer that they do, friend Vito--and we are certain that if
they _have_ such expectations they must be most treacherous to them.
But, talking of this Sir Smees, you perceive in his air and manner the
finesse of the Anglo-Saxon race; which is a people altogether distinct
from the ancient Gauls, both in history and character. Pietro Giannone,
in his _Storia, Civile del Regno di Napoli_, speaks of the Normans, who
were a branch of these adventurers, with great interest and
particularity; and I think I can trace in this youth some of the very
peculiarities that are so admirably delineated in his well-told but too
free writings. Well, Pietro; I was not speaking of thee, but of a
namesake of thine, of the family of Giannone, an historian of Naples, of
note and merit--what is thy will?"
This question was put to a servant, who entered at that moment, holding
in his hand a piece of paper, which he desired to lay before his master.
"A cavaliere is without, Signor Andrea, who asks the honor of an
audience, and who sends in his name, as your eccellenza will find it on
this paper."
The vice-governatore took the slip of paper and read aloud: "Edward
Griffin, tenente della marina Inglesa."
"Ah! here is an officer sent from 'ze Ving-y-Ving' with some
communication, friend Vito; it is fortunate you are still here to hear
what he has to say. Show the lieutenant in, Pietro."
One who understood Englishmen better than Andrea Barrofaldi would have
been satisfied at a glance that he who now entered was really a native
of that country. He was a young man of some two or three and twenty, of
a ruddy, round, good-natured face, wearing an undress coat of the
service to which he professed to belong, and whose whole air and manner
betrayed his profession quite as much as his country. The salutations he
uttered were in very respectable Italian, familiarity with the language
being the precise reason why he had been selected for the errand on
which he had come. After these salutations he put a piece of parchment
into Andrea's hand, remarking:
"If you read English, Signore, you will perceive by that commission I am
the person I represent myself to be."
"Doubtless, Signor Tenente, you belong to ze Ving-y-Ving and are a
subordinate of Sir Smees?"
The young man looked surprised and at the same time half disposed to
laugh, though a sense of decorum suppressed the latter inclination.
"I belong to His Britannic Majesty's ship Proserpine, Signore," he dryly
answered, "and know not what you mean by the Ving-y-Ving. Captain Cuffe
of that ship, the frigate you saw off your harbor this morning, has sent
me down in the felucca that got in this evening to communicate
intelligence concerning the lugger which we chased to the southward
about nine o'clock, but which, I see, is again snug at her anchor in
this bay. Our ship was lying behind Capraya when I left her, but will be
here to take me off, and to hear the news, before daylight, should the
wind ever blow again."
Andrea Barrofaldi and Vito Viti stared, and that, too, as if a
messenger had come from the lower regions to summon them away for their
misdeeds. Lieutenant Griffin spoke unusually good Italian for a
foreigner, and his manner of proceeding was so straightforward and
direct as to carry with it every appearance of truth.
"You do not know what I mean by ze Ving-y-Ving?" demanded the
vice-governatore, with emphasis.
"To be frank with you, I do not, Signore. Ving-y-Ving is not English;
nor do I know that it is Italian."
Mr. Griffin lost a good deal of ground by this assertion, which implied
a doubt of Andrea's knowledge of foreign tongues.
"You say, Signor Tenente, if I comprehend your meaning, that Ving-y-Ving
is not English?"
"Indeed I do, sir; at least no English that I have ever heard spoken, at
sea or ashore; and we seamen have a language of our own."
"Will you, then, permit me to ask you what is the translation of _ala e
ala_, word for word?"
The lieutenant paused a moment and pondered. Then he laughed
involuntarily, checking himself almost immediately with an air of
respect and gravity.
"I believe I now understand you, Signor Vice-governatore," he said; "we
have a sea-phrase something like this, to describe a fore-and-aft vessel
with her sails swinging off on both sides; but _we_ call it
wing-and-wing."
"Si, Signore--ving-y-ving. Such is the name of the lugger of your king
that now lies in our bay."
"Ah! we thought as much, Signori; the scoundrel has deceived you, as he
has done a hundred before you, and will do a hundred again unless we
catch him to-night. The lugger is a celebrated French privateer, that we
have six cruisers in chase of at this moment, our own ship included. She
is called le Feu-Follet, which is not Wing-and-Wing, but
Will-o'-the-Wisp, or Jack-o'-Lantern, in English; and which you, in
Italian, would call _il Fuoco Fatuo_. Her commander is Raoul Yvard than
whom there is not a greater desperado sailing out of France; thought it
is admitted that the fellow has some good--nay, some _noble_ qualities."
At every word uttered by the lieutenant, a page of history was blotted
out from the memory of his listener. The vice-governatore had heard the
name of Raoul Yvard, and even that of le Feu-Follet, which the
malignancy of a bitter war had blackened nearly to the hues of piracy.
The thought that he had been the dupe of this corsair--nay, that he had
actually been entertaining him with honors and hospitality, within an
hour--was almost too much for his philosophy. Men do not often submit to
such humiliating sensations without a struggle; and before he would, or
could, accord full credence to what was now told him, it was natural to
oppose the objections that first offered.
"All this _must_ be a mistake," observed the vice-governatore; "there
are English as well as French luggers; and this is one of the former.
Her commander is a noble English gentleman, a son of Milordo Smees; and
though his education has been in a trifling degree neglected, he shows
his origin and national character in all he says and does. Ze
Ving-y-Ving is commanded by Sir Smees, a young officer of merit, as you
must have seen yourself, Signore, by his evolutions this very morning.
Surely, you have heard of Il Capitano Sir Smees, the son of
Milordo Smees!"
"We do not deny that his escape this morning was a clever thing,
Vice-governatore, for the fellow is a seaman, every inch of him, and he
is as brave as a lion; but, then, he is as impudent as a beggar's dog.
There is no Sir Smees, nor Sir Anybody else, in command of any of our
luggers anywhere. In the Mediterranean we have no cruiser of this rig at
all; and the two or three we have elsewhere are commanded by old
sea-dogs who have been brought up in that sort of craft. As for Sirs,
they are scarce out here, though the battle of the Nile has made a few
of them for the navy. Then you'll not meet with a nobleman's sort in a
clipper like this, for that sort of gentry generally go from a frigate's
quarter-deck into a good sloop, as commander, and, after a twelvemonth's
work or so in the small one, into a fast frigate again, as a
post-captain."
Much of this was gibberish to Andrea Barrofaldi, but Griffin being
exclusively naval, he fancied every one ought to take the same interest
as he did himself in all these matters. But, while the Vice-governatore
did not understand more than half of the other's meaning, that half
sufficed to render him exceedingly uneasy. The natural manner of the
lieutenant, too, carried conviction with it, while all the original
impressions against the lugger were revived by his statements.
"What say you, Signor Vito Viti?" demanded Andrea; "you have been
present at the interviews with Sir Smees."
"That we have been deceived by one of the most oily-tongued rogues that
ever took in honest men, if we have been deceived at all,
vice-governatore. Last evening I would have believed this; but since the
escape and return of the lugger I could have sworn that we had an
excellent friend and ally in our bay."
"You had your signals, Signor Tenente; and that is proof of amity and
understanding."
"We made our number when we saw the lugger with an English ensign set,
for we did not suppose a Frenchman would be quietly lying in a Tuscan
port; but the answer we got was nonsense; and then we remembered to have
heard that this Raoul Yvard was in the habit of playing such tricks all
along the Italian coast. Once on the scent, we were not the men to be
easily thrown off it. You saw the chase and know the result."
"There must be some error in all this! Would it not be well, Signore, to
see the commander of the lugger--or to go on board of her and satisfy
yourself with your own eyes of the truth or falsehood of your surmises?
Ten minutes might clear up everything."
"Your pardon, Signor Vice-governatore; were I to trust myself on board
le Feu-Follet, I might remain a prisoner until a peace was made; and I
have yet two steps to gain before I can afford that risk. Then as to
letting Yvard know of my presence here, it would just give him the
alarm, and cause us to lose the bird before we can spring the net. My
orders are positive, not to let any one but the authorities of the
island know of my visit or its object. All we ask of you is to detain
the lugger until morning; then _we_ will see to it that she will never
trouble the Italian coast again."
"Nay, Signore, we have guns of our own and could easily dispose of so
small a vessel, once assured of her being an enemy," returned the
vice-governatore, with a little pride and loftiness of manner; "convince
us of that fact, and we'll sink the lugger at her anchors."
"That is just what we do not wish you to do, Signore," answered the
lieutenant, with interest. "From what passed this morning, Captain Cuffe
has thought it probable that Monsieur Yvard, for some reason best known
to himself, would come back here as soon as he was rid of us, or that,
finding himself on the south side of the island, he might put into Porto
Longone; and, had I not met him here, I was to get a horse and ride
across to the latter place and make my arrangements there. We wish by
all means to get possession of the lugger, which, in smooth water, is
the fastest craft in the Mediterranean, and would be of infinite service
to us. We think the Proserpine would prove too much for her, blowing
fresh; but in moderate weather she will go six feet to our five. Now if
you open on her she will either escape or be sunk; for Raoul Yvard is
not a man to strike to a town. All I ask is to be permitted to make
night-signals, for which I am prepared, as soon as the frigate
approaches, and that you will throw all the delays, by means of forms
and permits, in the way of the Frenchman's sailing, until to-morrow
morning. We will answer for the rest."
"I should think there would be but little danger of the lugger's
departing in the night, Signor Tenente, her commander rather expressing
an intention of passing several days with us; and it is this ease and
confidence of his which cause me to think that he cannot be the person
you take him for. Why should Raoul Yvard and le Feu-Follet come into
Porto Ferrajo at all?"
"No one knows: it is the man's habit: and doubtless he has reasons for
it. 'Tis said he has even been in at Gibraltar; and it is certain he has
cut several valuable store-ships out of our convoys. There is an
Austrian loading with iron, I perceive, in the harbor; probably he is
waiting for her to fill up, and finds it easier to watch her at an
anchor than by lying outside."
"You naval gentlemen have ways known only to yourselves; all this may be
so, but it seems an enigma to me. Have you any other proofs of your own
character, Signor Tenente, than the commission you have shown me? for
Sir Smees, as I have been taught to call the commander of the lugger,
has one, too, that has an air of as much authenticity as this you have
shown; and he wears quite as English-looking a uniform; how am I to
judge between you?"
"That difficulty has been foreseen, Signor Vice-governatore, and I come
well provided with the necessary proofs. I handed you my commission, as
that is a document which, if wanting, might throw a distrust on all
other proofs. But here is a communication from your superior at
Florence, recommending us to the kindness of the authorities of all the
Tuscan ports, which you will readily understand. Captain Cuffe has
furnished me with other proofs, which you can look over at
your leisure."
Andrea Barrofaldi now set about a cautious and deliberate examination of
the papers shown him. They proved to be of a nature to remove every
doubt; and it was not possible to distrust the party that presented
them. This was a great deal toward convicting the Signore Smees of
imposition, though both the vice-governatore and the podestà were of
opinion that Captain Cuffe might yet be mistaken as to the identity of
the lugger.
"It is impossible, Signori," answered the lieutenant; "we know every
English cruiser in these seas, by name and description at least, and
most of them by sight. This is none; and everything about her,
particularly her sailing, betrays her real name. We hear there is a man
in her who once belonged to our own ship, a certain Ithuel Bolt--"
"Cospetto!" exclaimed the podestà. "Then we must set down this Sir
Smees, after all, for an arrant rogue; for this is the very man we met
at Benedetta's the past night. An Americano, Signor Tenente, is he not?"
"Why, the fellow _pretends_ to be some such thing," answered the young
man, coloring, for he was loath to confess the wrong that had been done
the deserter; "but half the British seamen one falls in with nowadays
call themselves Americans, in order to escape serving his Majesty. I
rather think this rascal is a Cornish or a Devonshire man; he has the
twang and the nasal sing-song of that part of the island. If an
American, however, we have a better right to him than the French;
speaking our language and being descended from a common ancestry and
having a common character, it is quite unnatural for an American to
serve any but the English."
"I did not know that, Vice-governatore! I thought the Americani a very
inferior sort of people to us Europeans, generally, and that they could
scarcely claim to be our equals in any sense."
"You are quite right, Signor Podestà," said the lieutenant, briskly;
"they are all you think them; and any one can see that at a glance.
Degenerate Englishmen, we call them in the service."
"And yet you take them occasionally, Signor Tenente; and, as I
understand from this Ithuello, frequently contrary to their wishes and
by force," dryly observed Andrea Barrofaldi.
"How can we help it, Signore? The king has a right to and he has need of
the services of all his own seamen; and, in the hurry of impressing, we
sometimes make a mistake. Then, these Yankees are so like our own
people, that I would defy the devil himself to tell them apart."
The vice-governatore thought there was something contradictory in all
this, and he subsequently said as much to his friend the podestà; but
the matter went no further at the moment, most probably because he
ascertained that the young lieutenant was only using what might be
termed a national argument; the English Government constantly protesting
that it was impossible to distinguish one people from the other, _quoad_
this particular practice; while nothing was more offensive to their
eyes, in the abstract, than to maintain any affinity in appearance or
characteristics.
The result of the discussion, notwithstanding, was to make the two
Italians reluctant converts to the opinion of the Englishman, that the
lugger was the dreaded and obnoxious Feu-Follet. Once convinced,
however, shame, revenge, and mortification united with duty to quicken
their exertions and to render them willing assistants in executing the
schemes of Captain Cuffe. It was, perhaps, fortunate for Raoul and his
associates that the English officers had so strong a desire, as Griffin
expressed it, "to take the lugger alive"; else might she have been
destroyed where she lay by removing a gun or two from its proper
embrasure and planting them behind some natural ramparts among the
rocks. The night was dark, it is true, but not so much so as to render a
vessel indistinct at the short distance at which le Feu-Follet lay; and
a cannonade would have been abundantly certain.
When all parties were of a mind as to the true character of the little
craft in the bay, a consultation was had on the details of the course
proper to be pursued. A window of the government-house that looked
toward the direction of Capraya, or that in which the Proserpine was
expected to arrive, was assigned to Griffin. The young man took his
station at it about midnight, in readiness to burn the blue-lights with
which he was provided the instant he should discern the signals of his
ship. The position of this window was well adapted to the desired
object, inasmuch as the lights could not be seen from the town, while
they were plainly open to the sea. The same was essentially true as to
the signals of the frigate, the heights interposing between her and the
houses, and there being a still greater physical impossibility that
anything lying in the bay should discover an object at sea on the
northern side of the promontory.
In this manner, then, did hour after hour pass away, a light land-breeze
blowing, but coming so directly into the bay as to induce Raoul not to
lift his kedge. Ghita and her uncle, Carlo Giuntotardi, had come off
about ten; but there were still no signs of movement on board the
lugger. To own the truth, Raoul was in no hurry to sail, for the longer
his departure was protracted the longer would he have the happiness of
retaining the lovely girl on board; and the zephyr of the succeeding day
would be almost certain to carry le Feu-Follet up to the island-like
promontory of Monte Argentaro, the point where stood the watch-towers of
which Carlo was the keeper, and in one of which he resided. Under these
circumstances, therefore, it is not surprising that the rising of the
land-breeze was overlooked, or at least disregarded; and that Raoul sat
conversing with Ghita on deck until long past midnight, ere he allowed
her to seek her little cabin, where everything had been properly
arranged for her reception. To own the truth, Raoul was so confident of
having completely mystified all on shore that he felt no apprehensions
from that quarter; and, desirous of prolonging his present happiness as
much as possible, he had very coolly determined not to sail until the
southerly air of the morning should come; which, as usual, would just
suffice to carry him well into the canal, when the zephyr would do the
rest. Little did this hardy adventurer suspect what had occurred on
shore since he quitted it; nor was he at all aware that Tommaso Tonti
was at watch in the harbor, ready to report the slightest indication on
the part of the lugger of a wish to quit the bay.
But, while Raoul was so indifferent to the danger he ran, the feeling
was quite the reverse with Ithuel Bolt. The Proserpine was the bane of
this man's life; and he not only hated every stick and every timber in
her, but every officer and man who was attached to her--the king whose
colors she wore and the nation whose interest she served. An active
hatred is the most restless of all passions; and this feeling made
Ithuel keenly alive to every chance which might still render the frigate
dangerous to the lugger. He thought it probable the former would return
in quest of her enemy; and, expressly with a view to this object, when
he turned in at nine he left orders to be called at two, that he might
be on the alert in season.
Ithuel was no sooner awaked when he called two trusty men, whom he had
prepared for the purpose, entered a light boat that was lying in
readiness on the off side of the lugger, and pulled with muffled oars
toward the eastern part of the bay. When sufficiently distant from the
town to escape observation, he changed his course, and proceeded
directly out to sea. Half an hour sufficed to carry the boat as far as
Ithuel deemed necessary, leaving him about a mile from the promontory,
and so far to the westward as to give him a fair view of the window at
which Griffin had taken post.
The first occurrence out of the ordinary course of things that struck
the American was the strong light of a lamp shining through an upper
window of the government-house--not that at which the lieutenant was
posted, but one above it--and which had been placed there expressly as
an indication to the frigate that Griffin had arrived, and was actively
on duty. It was now two o'clock, or an hour or two before the
appearance of light, and the breeze off the adjoining continent was
sufficiently strong to force a good sailing vessel, whose canvas had
been thickened by the damps of night, some four knots through the water;
and as Capraya was less than thirty miles from Porto Ferrajo, abundant
time had been give to the Proserpine to gain her offing; that ship
having come from behind her cover, as soon as the sun had set, and the
haze of evening settled upon the sea.
Ithuel, usually so loquacious and gossiping in his moments of leisure,
was silent and observant when he had anything serious on hand. His eye
was still on the window in which the lamp was visible, the pure olive
oil that was burning in it throwing out a clear, strong flame; when
suddenly a blue-light flashed beneath the place, and he got a momentary
glimpse of the body of the man who held it, as he leaned forward from
another window. The motion which now turned his head seaward was
instinctive; it was just in time to let him detect a light descending
apparently into the water like a falling star; but which, in fact, was
merely a signal lantern of the Proserpine coming rapidly down from the
end of her gaff.
"Ah! d--n you," said Ithuel, grating his teeth and shaking his fist in
the direction of the spot where this transient gleam of brightness had
disappeared--"I know you, and your old tricks with your lanterns and
night-signals. Here goes the answer."
As he said this he touched a rocket, of which he had several in the
boat, with the lighted end of the cigar he had been smoking, and it went
hissing up into the air, ascending so high as to be plainly visible from
the deck of le Feu-Follet before it exploded. Griffin saw this signal
with wonder; the frigate noted it with embarrassment, for it was far to
seaward of the lamp; and even 'Maso conceived it necessary to quit his
station in order to report the circumstance to the colonel, whom he was
to call in the event of any unusual occurrence. The common impression,
however, among all these parties was that a second cruiser had come
through the canal from the southward in the course of the night, and
that she wished to notify the Proserpine of her position, probably
expecting to meet that ship off the island.
On board le Feu-Follet the effect was different. The. land-breeze of
Italy is a side-wind to vessels quitting the bay of Porto Ferrajo; and
two minutes after the rocket exploded the lugger-was gliding almost
imperceptibly, and yet at the rate of a knot or two, under her jigger
and jib, toward the outer side of the port, or along the very buildings
past which she had brushed the previous day. This movement was made at
the critical instant when 'Maso was off his watch; and the ordinary
sentinels of the works had other duties to attend to. So light was this
little vessel that a breath of air set her in motion, and nothing was
easier than to get three or four knots out of her in smooth water,
especially when she opened the comparatively vast folds of her two
principal lugs. This she did when close under the citadel or out of
sight of the town, the sentinels above hearing the flaps of her canvas,
without exactly understanding whence they came. At this instant Ithuel
let off a second rocket, and the lugger showed a light on her starboard
bow, so concealed, however, on all sides but one, as to be visible only
in the direction of the boat. As this was done she put her helm hard
down and hauled her fore-sheet over flat to windward. Five minutes later
Ithuel had reached her deck, and the boat was hauled in as if it had
been inflated silk, Deceived by the second rocket, the Proserpine now
made her number with regular signal lanterns, with the intention of
obtaining that of the stranger, trusting that the promontory would
conceal it from the vessels in the bay. This told Raoul the precise
position of his enemy, and he was not sorry to see that he was already
to the westward of her; a fact that permitted him to slip round the
island again, so near in as to be complete concealed by the background
of cliffs. By the aid of an excellent night-glass, too, he was enabled
to see the frigate, distant about a league, under everything that would
draw, from her royals down, standing toward the mouth of the bay on the
larboard tack; having made her calculations so accurately as to drop
into windward of her port, with the customary breeze off the land. At
this sight Raoul laughed and ordered the mainsail taken in. Half an hour
later he directed the foresail to be brailed, brought his jigger-sheet
in flat, put his helm hard down, and hauled the jib-sheet to windward.
As this last order was executed, day was just breaking over the
mountains of Radicofani and Aquapendente. By this time le Feu-Follet lay
about a league to the westward of the promontory, and abreast of the
deep bay that has been already mentioned as being in that direction from
the town. Of course she was far beyond the danger of missiles from the
land. The night wind, however, had now failed, and there was every
appearance that the morning would be calm. In this there was nothing
extraordinary at that season; the winds which prevailed from the south
being usually short and light, unless accompanied by a gust. Just as the
sun appeared the south air came, it is true, but so lightly as to render
it barely possible to keep the little lugger in command, by heaving-to
with her head to the southwest.
The Proserpine stood in until the day had advanced far enough to enable
her lookouts to detect le Feu-Follet braving her, as it might be, in the
western board, at the distance of about a league and a half, under her
jib and jigger, as described. This sight produced a great commotion in
the ship, even the watch below "tumbling up," to get another sight of a
craft so renowned for evading the pursuit of all the English cruisers of
those seas. A few minutes later Griffin came off, chopfallen and
disappointed. His first glance at the countenance of his superior
announced a coming storm; for the commander of a vessel of war is no
more apt to be reasonable under disappointment than any other
potentate. Captain Cuffe had not seen fit to wait for his subordinate on
deck; but as soon as it was ascertained that he was coming off in a
shore-boat, he retired to his cabin, leaving orders with the first
lieutenant, whose name was Winchester, to send Mr. Griffin below the
instant he reported himself.
"Well, sir," commenced Cuffe, as soon as his lieutenant came into the
after-cabin, without offering him a seat--"here _we_ are; and out yonder
two or three leagues at sea is the d--d Few-Folly!" for so most of the
seamen of the English service pronounced "Feu-Follet."
"I beg your pardon, Captain Cuffe," answered Griffin, who found himself
compelled to appear a delinquent, whatever might be the injustice of the
stiuation; "it could not be helped. We got in in proper time; and I went
to work with the deputy-governor and an old chap of a magistrate who was
with him, as soon as I could get up to the house of the first. Yvard had
been beforehand with me: and I had to under-run about a hundred of his
lying yarns before I could even enter the end of an idea of my own--"
"You speak Italian, sir, like a Neapolitan born; and I depended on your
doing everything as it should have been."
"Not so much like a Neapolitan, I hope, Captain Cuffe, as like a Tuscan
or a Roman," returned Griffin, biting his lip. "After an hour of pretty
hard and lawyer-like work, and overhauling all the documents, I did
succeed in convincing the two Elban gentry of my own character, and of
that of the lugger!"
"And while you were playing advocate, Master Raoul Yvard coolly lifted
his anchor and walked out of the bay as if he were just stepping into
his garden to pick a nosegay for his sweetheart!"
"No, sir, nothing of the sort happened. As soon as I had satisfied the
Signor Barrofaldi, the vice-governatore--"
"Veechy-govern-the-tory. D--n all veechys, and d--n all the
governatorys, too; do speak English, Griffin, on board an English ship,
if you please, even should your Italian happen to be Tuscan. Call the
fellow vice-governor at once, if that be his rank."
"Well, sir, as soon as I had satisfied the vice-governor that the lugger
was an enemy, and that we were friends, everything went: smoothly
enough. He wanted to sink the lugger as she lay at her anchor."
"And why the devil didn't he do it? Two or three heavy shot would have
given her a stronger dose than she could bear."
"You know, Captain Cuffe, it has all along been your wish to take her
alive. I thought it would tell so well for the ship to have it to say
she had _caught_ le Feu-Follet, that I opposed the project. I know Mr.
Winchester hopes to get her as a reward for carrying her, himself."
"Aye, and that would make you first. Well, sir, even if you didn't sink
her it was no reason for letting her escape."
"We could not prevent it, Captain Cuffe. I had a lookout set upon
her--one of the very best men in Porto Ferrajo, as everybody will tell
you, sir; and I made the signals of the lamp and the blue-lights, as
agreed upon; and, the ship answering, I naturally thought all was as it
should be, until--"
"And who burnt the rockets off here where we are at this moment? They
deceived me, for I took them to be signals of their presence from the
Weasel or the Sparrow. When I saw those rockets, Griffin, I was just as
certain of the Few-Folly as I am now of having my own ship!"
"Yes, sir, those rockets did all the mischief; for I have since learned
that, as soon as the first one was thrown, Master Yvard tripped his
kedge and went out of the bay as quietly as one goes out of a
dining-room when he don't wish to disturb the company."
"Aye, he took _French_ leave, the _b--y sans culotte_" returned the
captain, putting himself in a better humor with his own pun. "But did
you _see_ nothing of all this?"
"The first I knew of the matter, sir, was seeing the lugger gliding
along under the rocks so close in that you might have jumped aboard her;
and it was too late to stop her. Before those lazy _far nientes_ could
have pricked and primed, she was out of gun-shot."
"Lazy what?" demanded the captain.
"_Far nientes_, sir; which is a nickname we give these siesta-gentry,
you know, Captain Cuffe."
"I know nothing about it, sir, and I'll thank you always to speak to me
in English, Mr. Griffin. That is a language which I flatter myself I
understand, and it's quite good enough for all my wants."
"Yes, sir, and for any man's wants. I'm sure, I am sorry I can speak
Italian, since it has led to this mistake."
"Poh--poh--Griffin, you mustn't lay everything to heart that comes wrong
end foremost. Dine with me to-day, and we'll talk the matter over
at leisure."