"Sleep, sleep, thou sad one, on the sea;
The wash of waters lulls thee now;
His arm no more will pillow thee,
Thy hand upon his brow;
He is not near, to hurt thee, or to save:
The ground is his--the sea must be thy grave."
DANA.
A long summer's evening did the body of Francesco Caraccioli hang
suspended at the yard-arm of the Minerva; a revolting spectacle to his
countrymen and to most of the strangers who had been the witnesses of
his end. Then was it lowered into a boat, its feet loaded with a
double-headed shot, and it was carried out a league or more into the bay
and cast into the sea. The revolting manner in which it rose to the
surface and confronted its destroyers a fortnight later has passed into
history; and, to this day, forms one of the marvels related by the
ignorant and wonder-loving of that region[6]. As for Ghita, she
disappeared no one knew how; Vito Viti and his companions being too
much absorbed with the scene to note the tender and considerate manner
in which Raoul rowed her off from a spectacle that could but be replete
with horrors to one so situated. Cuffe himself stood but a few minutes
longer; but he directed his boat's crew to pull alongside of the
Proserpine. In half an hour after the execution took place this frigate
was aweigh; and then she was seen standing out of the bay, before a
light air, covered with canvas from her truck to her hammock-cloths.
Leaving her for the moment, we will return to the party in the skiff.
[6] Singular as was this occurrence, and painful as it must have proved
to the parties to the execution, it is one of the simplest consequences
of natural causes. All animal matter swells in water previously to
turning corrupt. A body that has became of twice its natural size, in
this manner, as a matter of course, displaces twice the usual quantity
of water; the _weight_ of the mass remaining the same. Most human frames
floating, in their natural state, so long as the lungs are inflated with
air, it follows that one in this condition would bring up with it as
much weight in iron, as made the difference between its own gravity and
that of the water it displaced. The upright attitude of Caraccioli was
owing to the shot attached to the feet; of which, it _is_ also probable,
one or two had become loosened.
Neither Carlo Giuntotardi nor Ghita Caraccioli--for so we must continue
to call the girl, albeit the name is much too illustrious to be borne by
one of her humble condition in life--but neither of these two had any
other design, in thus seeking out the unfortunate admiral, than to
perform what each believed to be a duty. As soon as the fate of
Caraccioli was decided, both were willing to return to their old
position in life; not that they felt ashamed to avow their connection
with the dead, but because they were quite devoid of any of that worldly
ambition which renders rank and fortune necessary to happiness.
When he left the crowd of boats, Raoul pulled toward the rocks which
bound the shores of the bay, near the gardens of Portici. This was a
point sufficiently removed from the common anchorage to be safe from
observation; and yet so near as to be reached in considerably less than
an hour. As the light boat proceeded Ghita gradually regained her
composure. She dried her eyes and looked around her inquiringly, as if
wondering whither their companion was taking them.
"I will not ask you, Raoul, why you are here at a moment like this, and
whence you have come," she said; "but I may ask whither you are now
carrying us? Our home is at St. Agata, on the heights above Sorrento,
and on the other side of the bay. We come there annually to pass a month
with my mother's sister, who asks this much of our love."
"If I did not know all this, Ghita, I would not and could not be here. I
have visited the cottage of your aunt this day; followed you to Naples,
heard of the admiral's trial and sentence, understood how it would
affect your feelings, traced you on board the English admiral's ship,
and was in waiting as you found me; having first contrived to send away
the man who took you off. All this has come about as naturally as the
feeling which has induced me to venture again into the lion's mouth."
"The pitcher that goes often to the well, Raoul, gets broken at last,"
said Ghita, a little reproachfully, though it surpassed her power to
prevent the tones of tenderness from mingling with her words.
"You know all, Ghita. After months of perseverance and a love such as
man seldom felt before, you deliberately and coldly refused to be my
wife;--nay, you have deserted Monte Argentaro purposely to get rid of my
importunities; for there I could go with the lugger at any moment; and
have come here, upon this bay, crowded with the English and other
enemies of France, fancying that I would not dare to venture hither.
Well, you see with what success; for neither Nelson nor his two-deckers
can keep Raoul Yvard from the woman he loves, let him be as victorious
and skilful as he may!"
The sailor had ceased rowing, to give vent to his feelings in this
speech, neither of the two colloquists regarding the presence of
Giuntotardi any more than if he had been a part of themselves. This
indifference to the fact that a third person was a listener proceeded
from habit, the worthy scholar and religionist being usually too
abstracted to attend to concerns as light as love and the youthful
affections. Ghita was not surprised either at the reproaches of her
suitor or at his perseverance; and her conscience told her he uttered
but the truth, in attributing to her the motives he had, in urging her
uncle to make their recent change of residence; for, while a sense of
duty had induced her to quit the towers, her art was not sufficient to
suggest the expediency of going to any other abode than that which she
was accustomed to inhabit periodically, and about which Raoul knew, from
her own innocent narrations, nearly as much as she knew herself.
"I can say no more than I have said already," the thoughtful girl
answered, after Raoul had begun again to row. "It is better on every
account that we should part. I cannot change my country; nor can you
desert that glorious republic of which you feel so proud. I am an
Italian, and you are French; while, more than all, I worship my God,
while you believe in the new opinions of your own nation. Here are
causes enough for separation surely, however favorably and kindly we may
happen to think of each other in general."
"Tell me not any more of the heart of an Italian girl, and of her
readiness to fly to the world's end with the man of her choice!"
exclaimed Raoul, bitterly. "I can find a thousand girls in Languedoc who
would make the circuit of the earth yearly rather than be separated a
day from the seamen they have chosen for their husbands."
"Then look among the girls of Languedoc for a wife," answered Ghita,
with a smile so melancholy that it contradicted her words. "Better to
take one of your own nation and opinions, Raoul, than risk your
happiness with a stranger, who might not answer all your hopes when you
came to know her better."
"We will not talk further of this now, dearest Ghita; my first care must
be to carry you back to the cottage of your aunt--unless indeed you will
at once embark in le Feu-Follet and return to the towers?"
"Le Feu-Follet!--she is hardly here, in the midst of a fleet of her
enemies!--Remember, Raoul, your men will begin to complain if you place
them too often in such risks to gratify your own wishes."
"_Peste!_--I keep them in good humor by rich prizes. They have been
successful; and that which makes yonder Nelson popular and a great man
makes Raoul Yvard popular and a great man also in his little way. My
crew is like its captain--it loves adventures and it loves success."
"I do not see the lugger--among a hundred ships, there is no sign of
yours?"
"The Bay of Napoli is large, Ghita," returned Raoul, laughing; "and le
Feu-Follet takes but little room. See-yonder vaisseaux-de-ligne appear
trifling among these noble mountains and on this wide gulf; you cannot
expect my little lugger to make much show. We are small, Ghita mia, if
not insignificant!"
"Still, where there are so many vigilant eyes, there is always danger,
Raoul! Besides, a lugger is an unusual rig, as you have owned to me
yourself."
"Not here, among all these eastern craft. I have always found, if I
wished to be unnoticed, it was best to get into a crowd; whereas he who
lives in a village lives in open daylight. But we will talk of these
things when alone, Ghita--yonder fisherman is getting ready to
receive us."
By this time the skiff was near the shore, where a little yawl was
anchored, containing a solitary fisherman. This man was examining them
as they approached; and, recognizing Raoul, he was gathering in his
lines and preparing to raise his grapnel. In a few minutes the two craft
lay side by side; and then, though not without difficulty, owing to a
very elaborate disguise, Ghita recognized Ithuel Bolt. A very few words
sufficed to let the American into all that it was necessary he should
know, when the whole party made its arrangements to depart. The skiff
which Raoul, having found it lying on the beach, had made free with
without leave, he anchored, in the full expectation that its right owner
might find it some day or other; while its cargo was transferred to the
yawl, which was one of the lugger's own attendants. The latter was a
light, swift-pulling little boat, admirably constructed and fit to live
in a sea-way; requiring, moreover, but two good oars, one of which Raoul
undertook to pull himself, while Ithuel managed the other. In five
minutes after the junction was made the party was moving again from the
land in a straight line across the bay, steering in the direction of its
southern cape, and proceeding with the steady, swift movement of men
accustomed to the toil.
There are few portions of the sea in which a single ship or boat is an
object of so little notice as the Bay of Naples. This is true of all
times and seasons; the magnificent scale on which nature has created her
panorama rendering ordinary objects of comparative insignificance; while
the constant movement, the fruit of a million of souls thronging around
its teeming shores, covers it in all directions with boats, almost as
the streets of a town are crowded with pedestrians. The present
occasion, too, was one likely to set everything in motion; and Raoul
judged rightly when he thought himself less likely to be observed in
such a scene than on a smaller and less frequented water. As a matter of
course, while near the mole, or the common anchorage, it was necessary
to pass amid a floating throng; but, once beyond the limits of this
crowd, the size of the bay rendered it quite easy to avoid unpleasant
collisions without any apparent effort; while the passage of a boat in
any direction was an occurrence too common to awaken distrust. One would
think no more of questioning a craft that was encountered, even in the
centre of that spacious bay, than he would think of inquiring about the
stranger met in the market-place. All this both Raoul and Ithuel knew
and felt; and once in motion, in their yawl, they experienced a sense of
security that for the four or five previous hours had not
always existed.
By this time the sun was low, though it was possible, as Raoul
perceived, to detect the speck that was still swinging at the Minerva's
fore-yard-arm; a circumstance to which the young man, with considerate
feeling, refrained from adverting. The Proserpine had been some time in
motion, standing out of the fleet under a cloud of canvas, but with an
air so light as to permit the yawl to gain on her, though the heads of
both were turned in the same direction. In this manner mile after mile
was passed, until darkness came. Then the moon arose, rendering the bay
less distinct, it is true, but scarcely more mysterious or more lovely,
than in the hours of stronger light. The gulf, indeed, forms an
exception in this particular to the general rule, by the extent of its
shores, the elevation of its mountains, the beauty of its water--which
has the deep tint of the ocean off soundings--and the softness of the
atmosphere; lending to it by day all the mellowed and dreamy charms that
other scenes borrow from the illusions of night and the milder
brilliance of the secondary planets. Raoul did not exert himself at the
oar; and, as he sat aft, his companion was obliged to take the stroke
from his movement. It was so pleasant to have Ghita with him, on his own
element, that he never hurried himself while in the enjoyment of her
society. The conversation, it will readily be imagined, was not lively;
but the saddened melancholy of Ghita's voice, as she occasionally
hazarded a remark of her own, or answered one of his questions, sounded
sweeter in his ears than the music of the ship's bands that was now
wafted to them across the water.
As the evening advanced the land-breeze increased, and the Proserpine
gradually gained upon the boat. When the latter was about two-thirds of
the distance across the bay, the frigate caught the stronger current
that came down athwart the campagna, between Vesuvius and the mountains
behind Castel-à-Mare, when she drove ahead fast. Her sails, as seamen
express it, were all asleep; or swelled outward without collapsing; and
her rate of sailing was between five and six miles in the hour. This
brought them up with the boat hand-over-hand, as it is called; and
Ghita, at Raoul's request, put the helm aside, in order that they might
get out of the way of the huge body that was approaching. It would seem
that there was some design on the part of the ship in coming so near,
for she made a sheer toward the yawl in a way to frighten the timid
helmswoman and to induce her to relinquish her hold of the tiller.
"Fear nothing," called out Griffin, in Italian--"we intend to offer you
a tow. Stand by and catch the line--Heave!"
A small rope was thrown; and, falling directly across Ithuel's head,
that person could do no less than seize it. With all his detestation of
the English in general, and of this vessel in particular, the
man-of-all-work had the labor-saving propensity of his countrymen; and
it struck him as a good thing to make a "king's ship" aid an enemy's
privateer by accepting the offer. As he used the line with proper
dexterity, the yawl was soon towing on the quarter of the frigate; Raoul
taking the helm and giving the boat the sheer necessary to prevent her
dragging in alongside. This was a change so sudden and so totally
unexpected that Ghita murmured her disapprobation, lest it should lead
to a discovery of the true character of her companions.
"Fear nothing, dearest," answered Raoul, "they cannot suspect us; and we
may learn something useful by being here. At all events, le Feu-Follet
is safe from their designs, just at this moment."
"Are you boatmen of Capri?" called out Griffin, who stood on the
taffrail of the ship, with Cuffe and the two Italians near by; the first
dictating the questions his lieutenant put.
"S'nore, si," answered Raoul, adopting the patois of the country as well
as he could and disguising his deep mellow voice by speaking on a high
shrill key. "Boatmen of Capri, that have been to Napoli with wine, and
have been kept out later than we intended by the spectacle at the
yard-arm of the Minerva. Cospetto! them signori make no more of a prince
than we do of a quail in the season, on our little island. Pardon me,
dearest Ghita; but we _must_ throw dust into their eyes."
"Has any strange sail been seen about your island within the last
twenty-four hours?"
"The bay is full of strange sail, S'nore; even the Turks coming to see
us, since the last trouble with the French."
"Aye--but the Turks are now your allies, like us English. Have you seen
any other strangers?"
"They tell me there are ships from the far north, too, S'nore, off the
town. Russians, I believe, they call them."
"They, too, are allies; but I mean enemies. Has there not been a lugger
seen off your island within the last day or two--a lugger of
the French?"
"Si--si--I know what you mean now, S'nore; there _has_ been a vessel
like that you mention off the island; for I saw her with my own
eyes--si--si. It was about the twenty-third hour last evening--a lugger,
and we all said she must be French by her wicked looks."
"Raoul!" said Ghita, as if reproaching him for an indiscretion.
"This is the true way to befog them," answered the young man; "they have
certainly heard of us; and by seeming to tell a little truth frankly it
will give me an opportunity of telling more untruth."
"Ah, Raoul, it is a sad life that renders untruths necessary!"
"It is the art of war, dearest; without it we should soon be outwitted
by these knaves of English. Si--si, S'nori; we all said just that
concerning her looks and rig."
"Will you sheer your boat alongside, friend," inquired Griffin, "and
come on board of us? We have a ducat here that wants an owner; I fancy
it will fit your pocket as well as another's. We will haul you ahead,
abreast of the gangway."
"Oh, Raoul, do not think of this rash act!" whispered Ghita; "the
vice-governatore or the podestà will recollect you; and then all will
be lost!"
"Fear nothing, Ghita--a good cause and a keen wit will carry me through;
while the least hesitation might, indeed, ruin us. These English first
ask, and then take without asking, if you tell them no. Corpo di Bacco!
who ever heard, either, of a lazzarone's refusing a ducat!"
Raoul then whispered a few words to Ithuel, when, the boat being by this
time far enough ahead, he gave it a sheer alongside of the ship, seized
a man-rope, and went up the cleets as actively as a cat. It is certain
not a soul on board that fine frigate had the least suspicion of the
true character of the individual who now confidently trod her
quarter-deck. The young man himself loved the excitement of such an
adventure, and he felt the greater confidence in his impunity, from the
circumstance that there was no other light than that of the moon. The
sails, too, cast their shadows upon deck; and then, neither of the two
Italians was a wizard at detecting impostors, as he knew by experience.
The watch was set for the night, and Winchester, who had returned to
duty, held the trumpet, while Griffin had no other immediate office but
to interpret. Two or three midshipmen were lounging about the
quarter-deck; here and there a seaman was on the lookout, at the
halyards, or on a cathead; some twenty or thirty old sea-dogs were
pacing the gangways or the forecastle, with their arms crossed and hands
stuck in their jackets; and a quick-eyed, active quartermaster stood
near the man at the wheel, conning the ship. The remainder of the watch
had stowed themselves between the guns or among the booms, in readiness
to act, but in truth dozing. Cuffe, Griffin, and the two Italians
descended from the taffrail and awaited the approach of the supposed
lazzarone or boatman of Capri, as he was now believed to be, near the
stern of the vessel. By an arrangement among themselves, Vito Viti
became the spokesman; Griffin translating to the captain all that passed
in an undertone as soon as it was uttered.
"Come hither, friend," commenced the podestà, in a patronizing but
somewhat lofty manner; "this generous and noble English captain, Sir
Kooffe, desires me to present you with a ducat, by way of showing that
he asks no more of you than he is willing to pay for, A ducat[7] is a
great deal of money, as you know; and good pay merits good services."
[7] The silver ducat of Naples is worth 80 grani, or rather less than 80
cents: the golden ducat, or sequin, of Italy, Holland, Turkey, etc., is
worth a trifle more than two American dollars. Raoul was offered
the former.
"S'nore, si; your eccellenza says the truth; a good ducat certainly
deserves good services."
"Bene. Now, tell these signori all you know about that said lugger;
where you saw her; when you saw her; and what she was about. Keep your
mind clear and tell us one thing at a time."
"S'nore, si. I will keep my mind clear and tell you no more than one
thing at a time. I believe, eccellenza, I am to begin with _where_ I saw
her; then I'm to tell you _when_ I saw her; after which you wish to know
what she was about. I believe this is the way you put it, S'nore?"
"Excellently well; answer in that order, and you will make yourself
understood. But first tell me--do all the natives of Capri speak the
same sort of Italian as you do yourself, friend?"
"S'nore, si--though my mother having been a French woman, they tell me
that I have caught a little from her. We all get something from our
mothers, eccellenza; and it's a pity we could not keep more of it."
"True, friend; but now for the lugger. Remember that honorable signori
will hear what you say; therefore, for your own credit, speak to the
point; and speak nothing but truth, for the love of God."
"Then, S'nore, first as to _where_ I saw her--does your eccellenza mean
where I was at the time, or where the lugger was?"
"Where the lugger was, fellow. Dost think Sir Kooffe cares where thou
spent thy day!"
"Well, then, eccellenza, the lugger was near the Island of Capri, on the
side next the Mediterranean, which you know, S'nore, is on the side
opposite to the bay and near, as might be, abreast of the house of
Giacomo Alberti--does your eccellenza know anything of the house
I mean?"
"Not I; but tell your story as if I knew all about it. It is these
particulars which give value to a tale. How far from the nearest land?
Mention that fact, by all means, if you happen to remember."
"Well, eccellenza, could the distance be measured, now I would think it
would prove to be about as far--not quite, S'nore, but, I say,
_about_--about as far as from the said Giacomo's largest fig-tree to the
vines of Giovanni, his wife's cousin. Si--I think, just about that
distance."
"And how far may that be, friend? Be precise, as much may depend on your
answers."
"S'nore, that may be a trifle further than it is from the church to the
top of the stairs that lead to Ana Capri."
"Cospetto!--Thou wilt earn thy ducat speedily at this rate! Tell us at
once in miles; was the lugger one, two, six, or twenty miles from your
island at the time thou speak'st of?"
"Eccellenza, you bid me speak of the _time_, in the second place; after
I had told you of the _where_, in the first place. I wish to do whatever
will give you pleasure, S'nore."
"Neighbor Vito Viti," put in the vice-governatore, "it may be well to
remember that this matter is not to be recorded as you would put on file
the confessions of a thief; it may be better to let the honest boatman
tell his story in his own way."
"Aye, now the vecchy has set to work, I hope we shall get the worth of
our ducat," observed Cuffe, in English.
"S'nori," rejoined Raoul, "it shall be just as your eccellenzi say. The
lugger you speak of was off the island last evening, steering toward
Ischia; which place she must have reached in the course of the night, as
there was a good land-wind from the twenty-third to the fifth hour."
"This agrees with our account as to the time and place," said Griffin;
"but not at all as to the direction the corsair was steering. We hear
she was rather rounding the southern cape for the Gulf of Salerno."
Raoul started, and gave thanks mentally that he had come on board, as
this statement showed that his enemies had received only too accurate
information of his recent movements. He had hopes, however, of being
able yet to change their intentions and of putting them on a
wrong scent.
"S'nori," he said, "I should like to know who it is that mistakes
southeast for northwest. None of our pilots or boatmen, I should think,
could ever make so great a blunder. S'nore, you are an officer and
understand such things; and I will just ask you if Ischia does not lie
northwest of Capri?"
"Of that fact there can be no manner of doubt," returned Griffin; "it is
equally true that the Gulf of Salerno lies southeast of both--"
"There, now!" interrupted Raoul, with a well-acted assumption of vulgar
triumph; "I knew your eccellenza, when you came to look into it, would
see the folly of saying that a vessel which was standing from Capri
toward Ischia was going on any other course than northwest!"
"But this is not the question, amico. We all understand the bearings of
these islands, which are the bearings of the whole coast down here-away;
but the question is, which way the lugger was steering?"
"I thought I had said, eccellenza, that she was heading across toward
Ischia," answered Raoul, with an air of obtuse innocence.
"If you do, you give an account exactly different from that which has
been sent to the admiral by the good bishop of your own island. May I
never eat another of his own quails if I think _he_ would deceive us;
and it is not easy to suppose a man like him does not know north
from south."
Raoul inwardly muttered a malediction on all priests; a class of men
which, rightly enough, he believed to be united in their hostility to
France. But it would not do to express this in his assumed character;
and he affected to listen, as one of his class ought to give ear to a
fact that came from his spiritual father.
"North from south, eccellenza! Monsignore knows a great deal more than
that, if the truth were said; though, I suppose, these noble signori are
acquainted with the right reverend father's great infirmity?"
"Not we--none of us, I fancy, ever had the honor to be in his company.
Surely, fellow, your bishop is a man of truth?"
"Truth!--Yes, eccellenza, so true is he that if he were to tell me that
the thing I saw myself had not and could not happen, I should rather
believe Monsignore than believe my own eyes. Still, Signori, eyes are
_something_; and as the right reverend father has _none_, or what are as
bad as none, for any use they can be in looking at a vessel half a mile
off, he may not always see what he thinks he sees. When Monsignore tells
us that so and so is Gospel, we all believe it, for we know the time has
been when he _could_ read; but we never think of going to his door to
ask which way a ship is steering, having the use of our own senses."
"Can this fellow tell us the truth, Griffin?" asked Cuffe, a good deal
mystified by Raoul's artifice and his assumed simplicity. "If so, we
shall be going exactly on the wrong scent by hauling round Campanella
and running into the Gulf of Salerno. The French hold Gaeta yet, and it
is quite likely that Master Yvard may wish to keep a friendly port open
under his lee!"
"You forget, Captain Cuffe, that his lordship has sent a light cruiser
already up that way, and le Feu-Follet would hardly dare to show herself
near one of our regular fellows--"
"Umph!--I don't know that, Mr. Griffin; I don't exactly know that. The
Proserpine is a 'regular fellow,' after a fashion, at least; and the
Few-Folly has dared to show herself to _her_. Jack-o'-Lantern--D--n me,
Griffin, but I think she is well named now, I'd rather chase a
jack-o'-lantern in the Island of Sicily than be hunting after such a
chap;--first he's here; then he's there; and presently he's nowhere. As
for the sloop, she's gone south, at my suggestion, to look into the bays
along the Calabrian coast. I told Nelson I wanted another ship; for,
just so certain as this Rule--Raw-owl, what the d--- l do you call the
pirate, Griffin?"
"Raoul, Captain Cuffe; Raoul Yvard is his name. 'Tis thoroughly French.
Raoul means Rodolph."
"Well, I told Nelson if this lad should get to dodging round one of the
islands we might as well set about playing 'puss in the corner' by the
week as to think of driving him off the land for a fair chase. He works
his boat like a stagecoach turning into an inn-yard!"
"I wonder my lord did not think of this and give us a sloop or two to
help us."
"Catch Nel. at that!--He might send one Englishman to look after two
Frenchmen; but he'd never dream of sending two Englishmen to look after
one Frenchman."
"But this is not a fighting matter, sir; only a chase--and one Frenchman
will run faster than two Englishmen any day of the week."
"_Sa-c-r-r-r-e,"_ muttered Raoul, in a tone that he endeavored to
suppress, and which was inaudible to all ears but those of Andrea
Barrofaldi; the vice-governatore happening to stand nearer his person
just at that moment than any other of the party.
"Very true," answered Cuffe; "but so it is. We are sent alone; and if
this Few-Folly get in between Ischia and Procida, it will be easier to
unearth the fox than to drive her out single-handed. As for any more
boat service against her, I suppose you've all had enough of _that?_"
"Why, sir, I rather think the people would be shy," answered Griffin,
with a little hesitation of manner, and yet with the directness and
simplicity of a truly brave man. "We must let them get over the last
brush before they are depended on much for any new set-to of that sort."
"_Bon!_" muttered Raoul, quite unconscious he was overheard.
"Nevertheless, we must catch this fellow if we wear out our shoes in the
chase."
All this time Andrea Barrofaldi and Vito Viti were profoundly ignorant
of what was passing between the two officers, though Raoul listened
eagerly and so well understood every syllable they uttered. Until this
moment the vice governatore had been rather indifferent and inattentive
as to what occurred; but the two exclamations of Raoul awakened a vague
distrust in his mind, which, while it had no direct object, was
certainly pregnant with serious consequences to the Frenchman himself.
Deep mortification at the manner in which they had been duped by this
celebrated privateersman, with a desire to absent themselves from the
island until the edge was a little taken off the ridicule they both felt
they merited, blended with certain longings to redeem their characters,
by assisting in capturing the corsair, were the reasons why these two
worthies, the deputy-governor and the podestà, were now on board the
Proserpine. Cuffe had offered them cots in his cabin and seats at his
table in a moment of confidence; and the offer was gladly accepted.
Andrea had not been on board the ship a day, however, before he became
thoroughly convinced of his utter uselessness; a circumstance that
added materially to the awkwardness of his situation. Like all
well-meaning and simple-minded men, he had a strong wish to be doing;
and day and night he ruminated on the means by himself, or discussed
them in private dialogues with his friend the podestà. Vito Viti frankly
admonished him to put his faith in heaven, affirming that something
worth while would yet turn up in the cruise to render the enterprise
memorable; it being a habit with the magistrate to say an ave or two on
all trying occasions, and then trust to God.
"You never knew a miracle, vice-governatore," said Vito Viti one day,
when they were discussing the matter by themselves; "you never knew a
miracle come to pass that another was not close on its heels; the first
being a mere preparation for the last, and the last always proving to be
the most remarkable. Now, when Anina Gotti fell off the cliffs, it was a
miracle she didn't break her neck; but, when she rolled over into the
sea, it was a much greater she wasn't drowned!"
"It is better to leave these things to the church, neighbor Vito," was
the vice-governatore's answer; "nor do I see that there has been any
miracle in the affair to start with."
"How!--Do you not call it a miracle, Signor Andrea, that two such men as
you and I should be deceived, as we were beyond all doubt, by this knave
of a French corsair? I look upon it as so great a miracle myself, that
it ought to follow instead of going before its companion."
To this Andrea made an answer suitable to his greater information, and
the discourse took its usual direction toward the means of doing
something to relieve the two functionaries from the stigma that they
mutually felt now rested on their sagacity, and that, too, as this
sagacity might be considered conjointly or individually.
It was probably owing to this fever of the mind that the
vice-governatore, a man usually so simple and confiding, was now so
suspicious and keen-sighted. The presence of Carlo Giuntotardi and Ghita
had at first struck him as a little out of the common way; and though
he could not distinguish their faces by the light of the moon and at the
distance at which they were placed in the yawl, he fancied from the
first that his old acquaintances were in the boat the ship was towing.
Now Andrea Barrofaldi certainly had never before that day connected
Ghita or her uncle in any manner with Raoul Yvard; but it was beyond
dispute that the mysterious manner in which they disappeared from the
island had excited some remarks; and in his present state of mind it was
not an extraordinary circumstance that he had some distant and vague
glimmerings of the truth. But for Raoul's indiscreet exclamations,
however, nothing probably would have come of these indistinct fancies;
and we are to refer all that followed to those unguarded outbreakings of
the Frenchman's humor, rather than to any very clear process of
ratiocination on the part of the vice-governatore.
Just as Cuffe made the declaration last recorded, Andrea stepped up to
the spot where he and Griffin were conversing apart and whispered a few
words in the ear of the latter.
"The d--l!" exclaimed the lieutenant, in English. "If what the
vice-governatore tells me be true, Captain Cuffe, the work is half done
to our hands!"
"Aye, the veechy is a good fellow at the bottom, Griffin; though he'll
never burn the bay of Naples. What has he to say now?"
Griffin led his captain a little aside and conferred a moment with him
alone. Orders were then passed to the officer of the watch, when Cuffe
and his companions went below like men in a hurry.