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.
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