The marine advanced, with the
respect of a subordinate, but with the steadiness of a man on post, to
examine the state of the room. Although the gentlemen believed this
caution unnecessary, the loud voices of Andrea and Vito Viti being of
themselves a sort of guarantee that the prisoner was in his cage, they
gave way to a man, fully understanding that a sentinel was never to be
resisted. The canvas was opened a few inches, the light of the lantern
at the cabin-door shot in, and there sat the vice-governatore and the
podesta, gesticulating and staring into each other's faces, still in hot
dispute; but the place of Raoul Yvard was empty!
Yelverton happened to look into the room with the sentinel. He was a
young man of strong powers of perception, with all the phrenological
bumps that, are necessary to the character, and he saw, at a glance,
that the bird had flown. The first impression was, that the prisoner had
thrown himself into the sea, and he rushed on deck without speaking to
those around him, made a hurried statement to the officer of the watch,
and had a quarter-boat in the water in a surprisingly short time. His
astonished companions below were less precipitate, though the material
fact was soon known to them. Griffin gave a hasty order, and the canvas
bulkhead came down, as it might be, at a single jerk, leaving the two
disputants in full view, utterly unconscious of the escape of their late
companion, sputtering and gesticulating furiously.
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