"
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.
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