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.
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