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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 which 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 canvass had been thickened by the damps of the night, some four knots through the water; and as Capraya was less than thirty miles from Porto Ferrajo, abundant time had been given 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 which was burning in it throwing out a strong, clear 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 permit him to 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 segar 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 too 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 her position to the Proserpine, 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 sidewind to vessels quitting the bay of PortoFerrajo; 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, towards 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 luggs. This she did when close under the citadel, or out of sight of the town, the sentinels above hearing the flaps of her canvass 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 completely concealed by the back-ground of cliffs. By the aid of an excellent night-glass, too, he was enabled to see the frigate, distant about a league, under everything which would draw, from her royals down, standing towards 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 to be 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 which 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 south-west.

The Proserpine stood in until the day had advanced far enough to enable her look-outs 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 commander announced a coming storm,- for the superior 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 firstlieutenant, whose name was Winchester, to send Mr. Griffin below as soon as he had 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 situation, "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 hoped to get her as a reward for carrying her himself."

"Ay, 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 look-out 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."

"Ay, he took French leave, the - sansculotte," returned the captain, putting himself in a better humour 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, he was out of gun-shot."

"Lazy what?" demanded the captain.

"Far nientes, Sir; 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."

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