"A justice of the peace, for the time being,
They bow to, but may turn him out next year;
They reverence their priest, but, disagreeing
In price or creed, dismiss him without fear;
They have a natural talent for foreseeing
And knowing all things;--and should Park appear
From his long tour in Africa, to show
The Niger's source, they'd meet him with--We know."
HALLECK.
Raoul was not mistaken as to the manner in which they were obtained and
the means employed by his enemies. The frigate had found one of the
feluccas loaded with naval stores, including some ten or fifteen barrels
of tar; and it instantly struck Griffin, who was burning to revenge the
defeat of the morning, that the prize might be converted into a
fire-vessel. As the second lieutenant volunteered to carry her in,
always a desperate service, Cuffe gave his consent. Nothing could have
been better managed than the whole duty connected with this exploit,
including the manner in which our hero saved his vessel from
destruction. The frigate kept between her prize and the lugger, to
conceal the fact that a boat remained on board the former, and when all
was ready the felucca was apparently permitted to proceed on her voyage.
The other two prizes were allowed to go free also, as cloaks to the
whole affair. Griffin, as has been seen, kept standing in for the land;
his object being to get up stream from the lugger and as near her as
possible. When he found himself almost as far ahead as was desirable,
drags were used to keep the craft stationary, and in this manner she
drifted down on her intended victim, as has been already described. But
for the sagacity and uneasiness of Ithuel the plan would altogether have
escaped detection; and but for the coolness, courage, and resources of
Raoul, it would infallibly have succeeded, notwithstanding the
suspicions that had been excited.
Cuffe and the people on deck watched the whole affair with the deepest
interest. They were barely able to see the sails of the felucca by means
of a night-glass as she was dropping down on the lugger; and Yelverton
had just exclaimed that the two vessels were foul of each other, when
the flames broke out. As a matter of course, at that distance both craft
seemed on fire; and when le Feu-Follet had dropped a hundred yards
nearer to the frigate, leaving the felucca blazing, the two were so
exactly in a line as to bring them together as seen from the former's
decks. The English expected every moment to hear the explosion of the
lugger's magazine; but, as it did not happen, they came to the
conclusion it had been drowned. As for Griffin, he pulled in-shore, both
to avoid the fire of le Feu-Follet, in passing her broadside, and in the
hope of intercepting Raoul while endeavoring to escape in a boat. He
even went to a landing in the river quite a league from the anchorage,
and waited there until long past midnight, when, finding the night
beginning to cloud over and the obscurity to increase, he returned to
the frigate, giving the smouldering wreck a wide berth for fear of
accidents.
Such, then, was the state of things when Captain Cuffe appeared on deck
just as the day began to dawn on the following morning. He had given
orders to be called at that hour, and was now all impatience to get a
view of the sea, more particularly in-shore. At length the curtain
began slowly to rise, and his view extended further and further toward
the river, until all was visible, even to the very land. Not a craft of
any sort was in sight. Even the wreck had disappeared, though this was
subsequently discovered in the surf, having drifted out with the current
until it struck an eddy, which carried it in again, when it was finally
stranded. No vestige of le Feu-Follet, however, was to be seen. Not even
a tent on the shore, a wandering boat, a drifting spar, or a rag of a
sail! All had disappeared, no doubt, in the conflagration. As Cuffe went
below he walked with a more erect mien than he had done since the affair
of the previous morning; and as he opened his writing-desk it was with
the manner of one entirely satisfied with himself and his own exertions.
Still, a generous regret mingled with his triumph. It was a great thing
to have destroyed the most pernicious privateer that sailed out of
France; and yet it was a melancholy fate to befall seventy or eighty
human beings--to perish like so many curling caterpillars, destroyed by
fire. Nevertheless, the thing was done; and it must be reported to the
authorities above him. The following letter was consequently written to
the commanding officer in that sea, viz.:
His Majesty's Ship Proserpine, off the mouth of the Golo,
Island of Corsica, July 23, 1799.
My Lord--I have the satisfaction of reporting, for the information of my
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the destruction of the Republican
privateer, the le Few-Folly, commanded by the notorious Raoul Yvard, on
the night of the 22d inst. The circumstances attending this important
success are as follows: Understanding that the celebrated picaroon had
been on the Neapolitan and Roman coasts, doing much mischief, I took his
Majesty's ship close in, following up the peninsula, with the land in
sight, until we got through the Canal of Elba, early on the morning of
the 21st. On opening Porto Ferrajo bay, we saw a lugger lying at anchor
off the town, with English colors flying. As this was a friendly port,
we could not suppose the craft to be the le Few-Folly; but, determined
to make sure, we beat in, signalling the stranger, until he took
advantage of our stretching well over to the eastward to slip round the
rocks and get off to windward. We followed for a short distance and then
ran over under the lee of Capraya, where we remained until the morning
of the 22d, when we again went off the town. We found the lugger in the
offing; and being now well satisfied of her character, and it falling
calm, I sent the boats after her, under Messrs. Winchester and Griffin,
the first and second of this ship. After a sharp skirmish, in which we
sustained some loss, though that of the Republicans was evidently much
greater, Monsieur Yvard succeeded in effecting his escape in consequence
of a breeze's suddenly springing up. Sail was now made on the ship, and
we chased the lugger into the mouth of the Golo. Having fortunately
captured a felucca with a quantity of tar and other combustible
materials on board, as we drew in with the land, I determined to make a
fire-ship of her, and to destroy the enemy by that mode; he having
anchored within the shoals, beyond the reach of shot. Mr. Winchester,
the first, having been wounded in the boat-affair, I intrusted the
execution of this duty to Mr. Griffin, who handsomely volunteered, and
by whom it was effectually discharged about ten last evening in the
coolest and most officer-like manner. I inclose this gentleman's report
of the affair and beg leave to recommend him to the favor of my Lords
Commissioners. With Mr. Winchester's good conduct under a sharp fire in
the morning the service has also every reason to be satisfied. I hope
this valuable officer will soon be able to return to duty.
Permit me to congratulate you, my lord, on the complete destruction of
this most pernicious cruiser of the enemy. So effectual has it been,
that not a spar or a fragment of wreck remains. We have reason to think
every soul on board perished; and though this fearful loss of human life
is to be deeply deplored, it has been made in the service of good
government and religion. The lugger was filled with loose women; our
people hearing them singing their philosophical and irreligious songs,
as they approached with the fire-vessel. I shall search the coast for
any rafts that may be drifting about, and then proceed to Leghorn for
fresh provisions.
I have the honor to be, my lord,
Your lordship's most obedient servant, RICHARD CUFFE.
To Rear Admiral the Right Hon. Lord Nelson, Duke of Bronte, &c., &c.,
&c.
Cuffe read this report over twice; then he sent for Griffin, to whom he
read it aloud, glancing his eye meaningly at his subordinate, when he
came to the part where he spoke of the young man's good conduct.
"So much for that d----d Jack-o'-Lantern, Griffin! I fancy it will lead
no one else on a wild-goose chase."
"I trust not, sir. Will you allow me to suggest a slight alteration in
the spelling of the lugger's name, Captain Cuffe; the clerk can make it
when he writes out the letter fairly."
"Aye--I dare say it is different from what _we_ would have it; French
spelling being no great matter in general. Put it as you please; though
Nelson has as great a contempt for their boasted philosophy and learning
as I have myself. I fancy you will find all the English spelt right. How
do _you_ write their confounded gibberish?"
"Feu-Follet, sir, pronouncing the last part of it fol-_lay_; not
fol-_ly_. I was thinking of asking leave, Captain Cuffe, to take one of
the cutters and pull up to the lugger's anchorage and see if anything
can be found of her wreck. The ship will hardly get under way until the
westerly wind comes."
"No; probably not. I will order my gig manned, and we'll go together.
Poor Winchester must keep house awhile; so there is no use in asking
him. I saw no necessity for putting Nelson into a passion by saying
anything about the exact amount of our loss in that boat
scrape, Griffin."
"I agree with you, sir, that it is best as it is. 'Some loss' covers
everything--it means 'more or less.'"
"That was just my notion. I dare say there may have been twenty women in
the lugger."
"I can't answer for the number, sir; but I heard female singing as we
got near in the fire-ship, and think it likely there may have been that
number. The lugger was full-manned; for they were like bees swarming on
her forecastle when we were dropping foul. I saw Raoul Yvard by the
light of the fire as plainly as I now see you, and might have picked him
off with a musket; but that would hardly have been honorable."
To this Cuffe assented, and then he led the way on deck, having
previously ordered the boats manned. The two officers proceeded to the
spot where they supposed the Feu-Follet had been anchored, and rowed
round for near an hour, endeavoring to find some traces of her wreck on
the bottom. Griffin suggested that, when the magazine was drowned, in
the hurry and confusion of the moment, the cock may have been left
open--a circumstance that might very well have carried down the bottom
of so small a vessel in two or three hours; more especially after her
hull had burnt to the water's edge. The next thing was to find this
bottom, by no means a hopeless task, as the waters of the Mediterranean
are usually so clear that the eye can penetrate several fathoms, even
off the mouth of the Golo--a stream that brought more or less debris
from the mountains. It is scarcely necessary to say that the search was
not rewarded with success, the Feu-Follet being, just at that time, snug
at anchor at Bastia, where her people had already taken out her wounded
mainmast, with a view to step a new one in its place. At that very
moment, Carlo Giuntotardi, his niece, and Raoul Yvard were walking up
the principal street of the town, the place standing on a hill, like
Porto Ferrajo, perfectly at their ease as regards fire-ships, English
frigates, and the dangers of the seas. But all this was a profound
mystery to Cuffe and his companions, who had long been in the habit of
putting the most favorable constructions on the results of their
professional undertakings, and certainly not altogether without reason;
and who nothing doubted that le Feu-Follet had, to use their own
language, "laid her bones somewhere along-shore here."
After two or three hours passed in fruitless search Cuffe determined to
return to his ship. He was a keen sportsman and had brought a
fowling-piece with him in his gig, with a half-formed design of landing
and whiling away the time, until the westerly wind came, among some
marshes that he saw near the shore, but had been persuaded by Griffin
not to venture.
"There must be woodcock in that wet ground, Griffin," he said, as he
reluctantly yielded a little in his intention; "and Winchester would
fancy a bird exceedingly in a day or two. I never was hit in my life
that I did not feel a desire for game after the fever was gone. Snipe,
too, must live on the banks of that stream. Snipe are coming in season
now, Griffin?"
"It's more likely, sir, that some of the privateersmen have got ashore
on planks and empty casks, and are prowling about in the weeds, watching
our boats. Three or four of them would be too much for you, Captain
Cuffe, as the scoundrels all carry knives as long as ship's cutlasses."
"I suppose your notion may be true; and I shall have to give it up. Pull
back to the frigate, Davy, and we'll be off after some more of these
French ragamuffins."
This settled the matter. In half an hour the boats were swinging at the
Proserpine's quarters; and three hours later the ship was under her
canvas, standing slowly off the land. That day, however, the zephyr was
exceedingly light, and the sun set just as the ship got the small island
of Pianosa abeam; when the air came from the northward, and the ship's
head was laid in to the eastward; the course lying between the land just
mentioned and that of Elba. All night the Proserpine was slowly fanning
her way along the south side of the latter island, when, getting the
southerly air again in the morning, she reappeared in the Canal of
Piombino as the day advanced, precisely as she had done before, when
first introduced to the acquaintance of the reader. Cuffe had given
orders to be called, as usual, when the light was about to return; it
being a practice with him, in that active and pregnant war, to be on
deck at such moments, in order to ascertain, with his own eyes, what the
fortunes of the night had brought within his reach.
"Well, Mr. Griffin," he said, as soon as he had received the salutation
of the officer of the watch, "you have had a still night of it. Yonder
is the Point of Piombino, I see; and here we have got Elba and this
little rocky island again on our larboard hand. One day is surprisingly
like another about these times, for us mariners in particular."
"Do you really think so, Captain Cuffe?--Now, to my notion, this day
hasn't had its equal on the Proserpine's log, since we got hold of
l'Epervier and her convoy. You forget, sir, that we destroyed le
Feu-Follet last night!"
"Aye--that is something--especially for _you_, Griffin. Well, Nelson
will hear of it by mail as soon as we can get into Leghorn, which will
be immediately after I have had an opportunity of communicating with
these people in Porto Ferrajo. After all that has passed, the least we
can do is to let your veechy-govern-the-tories know of our success."
"Sail, ho!" shouted the lookout, on the foretopsail-yard.
The two officers turned, and gazed round them in every direction, when
the captain made the customary demand of "Where-away?"
"Here, sir, close aboard of us, on our larboard hand, and on our
weather quarter."
"On our weather quarter! D--n me if that _can_ be true, Griffin. There
is nothing but the island there. The fellow cannot have mistaken this
little island for the hull of a ship?"
"If he has, sir," answered Griffin, laughing, "it must be for a
twenty-decker. That is Ben Brown aloft, and he is as good a lookout as
we have in the ship."
"Do you see her, sir?" demanded Ben Brown, looking over his shoulder to
put the question.
"Not a bit of her," cried Cuffe. "You must be dreaming, fellow. What
does she look like?"
"There, this small island shuts her in from the deck, sir. She is a
lugger; and looks as much like the one we burnt last night, sir, as one
of our catheads is like t'other."
"A lugger!" exclaimed Cuffe. "What, another of the blackguards! By Jove!
I'll go aloft and take a look for myself. It's ten to one that I see her
from the maintop."
In three minutes more, Captain Cuffe was in the top in question; having
passed through the lubber-hole, as every sensible man does, in a
frigate, more especially when she stands up for want of wind. That was
an age in which promotion was rapid, there being few gray-bearded
lieutenants, then, in the English marine; and even admirals were not
wanting who had not cut all their wisdom-teeth. Cuffe, consequently, was
still a young man; and it cost him no great effort to get up his ship's
ratlins in the manner named. Once in the top, he had all his eyes about
him. For quite a minute he stood motionless, gazing in the direction
that had been pointed out by Ben Brown. All this time Griffin stood on
the quarter-deck, looking quite as intently at his superior as the
latter gazed at the strange sail. Then Cuffe deigned to cast a glance
literally beneath him, in order to appease the curiosity which, he well
understood, it was so natural for the officer of the watch to feel.
Griffin did not dare to ask his _captain_ what he saw; but he looked a
volume of questions on the interesting subject.
"A sister corsair, by Jupiter Ammon!" cried Cuffe; "a _twin_ sister,
too; for they _are_ as much alike as one cathead is like another. More
too, by Jove, if I am any judge."
"What will you have us do, Captain Cuffe?" inquired the lieutenant. "We
are now going to leeward, all the while, I don't know, sir, that there
is positively a current here, but--"
"Very well, sir--very well--haul up on the larboard tack, as soon as
possible, and get the larboard batteries clear. We may have to cripple
the chap in order to get hold of him."
As this was said, Cuffe descended through the same lubber-hole and soon
appeared on deck. The ship now became a scene of activity and bustle.
All hands were called, and the guns were cleared away by some, while
others braced the yards, according to the new line of sailing.
The reader would be greatly aided, in understanding what is to follow,
could he, perchance, cast a look at a map of the coast of Italy. He will
there see that the eastern side of the Island of Elba runs in a nearly
north and south direction, Piombino lying off about north-northeast from
its northern extremity. Near this northern extremity lies the little
rocky islet so often mentioned, or the spot which Napoleon, fifteen
years later, selected as the advanced redoubt of his insular empire. Of
course the Proserpine was on one side of this islet and the strange
lugger on the other. The first had got so far through the Canal as to be
able to haul close upon the wind, on the larboard tack, and yet to clear
the islet; while the last was just far enough to windward, or
sufficiently to the southward, to be shut out from view from the
frigate's decks by the intervening rocks. As the distance from the islet
to the island did not much exceed a hundred or two yards, Captain Cuffe
hoped to inclose his chase between himself and the land, never dreaming
that the stranger would think of standing through so narrow and rocky a
pass. He did not know his man, however, who was Raoul Yvard; and who had
come this way from Bastia, in the hope of escaping any further collision
with his formidable foe. He had seen the frigate's lofty sails above the
rock as soon as it was light; and, being under no hallucination on the
subject of _her_ existence, he knew her at a glance. His first order was
to haul everything as flat as possible; and his great desire was to get
from under the lee of the mountains of Elba into this very pass, through
which the wind drew with more force than it blew anywhere near by.
As the Proserpine was quite a league off in the Canal, le Feu-Follet,
which sailed so much the fastest in light winds, had abundance of time
to effect her object. Instead of avoiding the narrow pass between the
two islands, Raoul glided boldly into it; and by keeping vigilant eyes
on his fore-yard, to apprise him of danger, he succeeded in making two
stretches in the strait itself, coming out to the southward on the
starboard tack, handsomely clearing the end of the islet at the very
instant the frigate appeared on the other side of the pass. The lugger
had now an easy task of it; for she had only to watch her enemy, and
tack in season, to keep the islet between them, since the English did
not dare to carry so large a ship through so narrow an opening. This
advantage Raoul did not overlook, and Cuffe had gone about twice,
closing each time nearer and nearer to the islet, before he was
satisfied that his guns would be of no service until he could at least
weather the intervening object, after which they would most probably be
useless in so light a wind by the distance between them and their enemy.
"Never mind, Mr. Griffin; let this scamp go," said the captain, when he
made this material discovery; "it is pretty well to have cleared the
seas of one of them. Besides, we do not know that this _is_ an enemy at
all. He showed no colors, and seems to have just come out of Porto
Ferrajo, a friendly haven."
"Raoul Yvard did _that_, sir, not once, but twice," muttered Yelverton,
who, from the circumstance that he had not been employed in the
different attempts on le Feu-Follet, was one of the very few
dissentients in the ship touching her fate, "These twins _are_
exceedingly alike; especially _Pomp_, as the American negro said of his
twin children."
This remark passed unheeded; for so deep was the delusion, in the ship,
touching the destruction of the privateer, it would have been as
hopeless an attempt to try to persuade her officers, and people
generally, that le Feu-Follet was not burned, as it would be to induce a
"great nation" to believe that it had any of the weaknesses and foibles
that confessedly beset smaller communities. The Proserpine was put about
again, and, setting her ensign, she stood into the bay of Porto Ferrajo,
anchoring quite near the place that Raoul had selected for the same
purpose on two previous occasions. The gig was lowered, and Cuffe,
accompanied by Griffin as an interpreter, landed to pay the usual visit
of ceremony to the authorities.
The wind being so light, several hours were necessary to effect all
these changes; and by the time the two officers were ascending the
terraced street the day had advanced sufficiently to render the visit
suitable as to time. Cuffe appearing in full uniform, with epaulettes
and sword, his approach attracted notice; and Vito Viti hurried off to
apprise his friend of the honor he was about to receive. The
vice-governatore was not taken by surprise, therefore, but had some
little time to prepare his excuses for being the dupe of a fraud as
impudent as that which Raoul Yvard had so successfully practised on him.
The reception was dignified, though courteous; and it had none the less
of ceremony, from the circumstance that all which was said by the
respective colloquists had to be translated before it could be
understood. This circumstance rendered the few first minutes of the
interview a little constrained; but each party having something on his
mind, of which it was his desire to be relieved, natural feeling soon
got the better of forms.
"I ought to explain to you, Sir Cuffe, the manner in which a recent
event occurred in our bay here," observed the vice-governatore; "since,
without such explanation, you might be apt to consider us neglectful of
our duties, and unworthy of the trust which the Grand Duke reposes in
us. I allude, as you will at once understand, to the circumstance that
le Feu-Follet has twice been lying peaceably under the guns of our
batteries, while her commander, and, indeed, some of her crew, have been
hospitably entertained on shore."
"Such things must occur in times like these, Mr. Veechy-Governatory; and
we seamen set them down to the luck of war," Cuffe answered graciously,
being much too magnanimous, under his own success, to think of judging
others too harshly. "It might not be so easy to deceive a
man-of-war's-man like myself; but I dare say, Veechy-Governatory, had it
been anything relating to the administration of your little island here,
even Monsieur Yvard would have found you too much for him!"
The reader will perceive that Cuffe had got a new way of pronouncing the
appellation of the Elban functionary; a circumstance that was owing to
the desire we all have, when addressing foreigners, to speak in their
own language rather than in our own. The worthy captain had no more
precise ideas of what a _vice_-governor means than the American people
just now seem to possess of the signification of _vice_-president; but,
as he had discovered that the word was pronounced "veechy" in Italian,
he was quite willing to give it its true sound; albeit a smile struggled
round the mouth of Griffin while he listened.
"You do me no more than justice, Signor Kooffe, or Sir Kooffe, as I
presume I ought to address you," answered the functionary; "for, in
matters touching our duties on shore here, we are by no means as
ignorant as on matters touching your honorable calling. This Raoul
Yvard presented himself to me in the character of a British officer, one
I esteem and respect; having audaciously assumed the name of a family of
high condition and of great power, I believe, among your people--"
"Ah--the barone!" exclaimed Cuffe, who, having discovered by his
intercourse with the southern Italians that this word meant a "rascal"
as well as a "baron," was fond of using it on suitable occasions. "Pray,
Veechy-Governatory, what name did he assume? Ca'endish, or Howard, or
Seymour, or some of those great nobs, Griffin, I'll engage! I wonder
that he spared Nelson!"
"No, Signore, he took the family appellation of another illustrious
race. The republican corsair presented himself before me as a Sir
Smees--the son of a certain Milordo Smees."
"Smees--Smees--Smees!--I've no recollection of any such name in the
peerage. It can't be Seymour that the Veechy means!--_That_ is a great
name, certainly; and some of them have been in the service; it is
possible this barone may have had the impudence to hail for a Seymour!"
"I rather think not, Captain Cuffe. 'Smees' is very much as an Italian
would pronounce 'Smith,' as, you know, the French call it 'Smeet.' It
will turn out that this Mr. Raoul has seized upon the first English name
he fell in with, as a man overboard clutches at a spar adrift or a
life-buoy; and that happened to be 'Smith.'"
"Who the devil ever heard of a my lord Smith! A pretty sort of
aristocracy we should have, Griffin, if it were made up of
such fellows!"
"Why, sir, the _name_ can make no great difference; the deeds and the
antiquity forming the essentials."
"And he assumed a title, too--_Sir_ Smees!--I dare say he was ready to
swear His Majesty made him a Knight Banneret, under the royal ensign and
on the deck of his own ship, as was done with some of the old admirals.
The veechy, however, has forgotten a part of the story, as it must have
been sir _John_, or Sir _Thomas_ Smees, at least."
"No, sir; that is the way with the French and the Italians, who do not
understand our manner of using Christian names with titles, as in our
Sir Edwards and Lord Harries and Lady Betties."
"Blast the French! I can believe anything of _them,_ though I should
have thought that these _Italians_ knew better. However, it may be well
to give the veechy a hint of what we have been saying, or it may seem
rude--and, hark'ye, Griffin, while you _are_ about it, rub him down a
little touching books and that sort of thing; for the surgeon tells me
he has heard of him in Leghorn as a regular leaf-cutter."
The lieutenant did as ordered, throwing in an allusion to Andrea's
reputation for learning, that, under the circumstances, was not
ill-timed, and which, as it was well enough expressed, was exceedingly
grateful to his listener just at that awkward moment.
"My claims to literature are but small, Signore," answered Andrea, with
humility, "as I beg you will inform Sir Kooffe; but they were sufficient
to detect certain assumptions of this corsair; a circumstance that came
very near bringing about an exposure at a most critical moment. He had
the audacity, Signore, to wish to persuade _me_ that there was a certain
English orator of the same name and of equal merit of him of Roma and
Pompeii--one Sir Cicero!"
"The barone!" again exclaimed Cuffe, when this new offence of Raoul's
was explained to him. "I believe the rascal was up to anything. But
there is an end of him now, with all his Sir Smees and Sir Ciceros into
the bargain. Just let the veechy into the secret of the fellow's
fate, Griffin."
Griffin then related to the vice-governatore the manner in which it was
supposed that le Feu-Follet, Raoul Yvard, and all his associates had
been consumed like caterpillars on a tree. Andrea Barrofaldi listened,
with a proper degree of horror expressed in his countenance; but Vito
Viti heard the tale with signs of indifference and incredulity that he
did not care to conceal. Nevertheless, Griffin persevered, until he had
even given an account of the manner in which he and Cuffe examined the
lugger's anchorage, in the bootless attempt to discover the wreck.
To all this the two functionaries listened with profound attention and a
lively surprise. After looking at each other several times, and
exchanging significant gestures, Andrea assumed the office of
explaining.
"There is some extraordinary mistake in this, Signor Tenente," he said;
"for Raoul Yvard still lives. He passed this promontory just as day
dawned, in his lugger, this very morning!"
"Aye, he has got that notion from having seen the fellow we fell in with
off the harbor here," answered Cuffe, when this speech was translated to
him; "and I don't wonder at it, for the two vessels were surprisingly
alike. But the barone that we saw burned with our own eyes, Griffin, can
never float again. I say barone; for, in my opinion, the Few-Folly was
just as much of a rascal as her commander and all who sailed in her."
Griffin explained this; but it met with no favor from the two Italians.
"Not so, Signor Tenente--not so," returned the vice-governatore; "the
lugger that passed this morning, we _know_ to be le Feu-Follet, inasmuch
as she took one of our own feluccas, in the course of the night, coming
from Livorno and Raoul Yvard permitted her to come in, as he said to her
padrone, on account of the civil treatment he had received while lying
in our port. Nay, he even carried his presumption so far as to send me,
by means of the same man, the compliments of 'Sir Smees,' and his hopes
of being able some day to make his acknowledgments in person."
The English Captain received this intelligence as might be expected; and
unpleasant as it was, after putting various questions to the
vice-governatore and receiving the answers, he was obliged, unwillingly
enough, to believe it all. He had brought his official report in his
pocket; and as the conversation proceeded, he covertly tore it into
fragments so small that even a Mahommedan would reject them as not large
enough to write the word "Allah" on.
"It's d--d lucky, Griffin, that letter didn't get to Leghorn this
morning," he said, after a long pause. "Nelson would have Bronted me
famously had he got it! Yet I never believed half as devoutly in the
twenty-nine articles as--"
"I believe there are _thirty_-nine of them, Captain Cuffe," modestly put
in Griffin.
"Well, _thirty_-nine, if you will--what signifies ten, more or less, in
such matters? A man is ordered to believe them _all_, if there were a
hundred. But I never believed in _them_ as devoutly as I believed in the
destruction of that infernal picaroon. My faith is unsettled for life!"
Griffin offered a few words of condolence, but he was also too much
mortified to be very able to administer consolation. Andrea Barrofaldi,
understanding the state of the case, now interposed with his courtesies,
and the two officers were invited to share his bachelor's breakfast.
What followed, in consequence of this visit, and the communications to
which it gave rise, will appear in the course of the narrative.