The darkness was intense; from the blackness came only the hoarse scream of the wind and the threats and buffets of the sea. But soon he saw against the blackness the glimmering column of gray, and he could hear above the riot of the storm a drip as from a thousand house-roofs. It came on in a slightly slanting direction, and, waiting till it began to cut across the muzzle of the gun, he fired. And with a crash of many waters the gray column vanished. The Capsina had followed him forward, and as the smoke cleared away he saw her eye dancing, and she slapped the brazen side of the gun. "There will be more work for you to-night!" she cried. "Well, Mitsos, gone is the gray ghost. But the ship remains." Mitsos sat still a moment, the strain and responsibility of his aim left him unnerved. But almost instantly he recovered himself. "You will give chase to-night?" said he, incredulously. "Why not?" "Because God is blowing a great gale. There is no light, and who knows where we shall drive to?" Again the violent sheet of flame blazed from the cloud overhead, and the Capsina laughed. "No light? Is that no light, when the clouds are bursting to give it us? I saw her quite plainly then. Oh, lad, what is the wind for except to sail on? Would you chase the Turks in a calm? There again!" Now whether it was from the mere infection of the excitement which possessed the Capsina, or whether his nerves were strung by the electricity in the air to that shrill pitch when a man will do and dare anything, in any case something of the irresponsible recklessness of the girl was on Mitsos, and it seemed to him a fine piece of play--something between a dream and a drunkard's idea--to go a-hunting of Turks in this wild storm. The flashes of lightning, repeated and again repeated with redoubled quickness, kept showing them the ship which, since they first sighted it, had furled all sail and lay rolling on the water simply weathering the storm. The _Revenge_ was carrying jib and staysail, and while the Turk drifted eastward, was rapidly diminishing the distance between them. Mitsos rubbed his hands exultantly. "She will be as safe as a hare in a gin," he said, "when once we get her between us and the land, for no power on earth will let her sail out in the teeth of the wind. But, Capsina, where is the _Sophia_, and where are the other two Turks?" "Signal the _Sophia_," said the girl; "Kanaris will be on the watch, and if he is near enough to hear our signals he will soon know what we are about." The two stern guns on the upper battery accordingly were fired in quick succession, this being the signal agreed on with Kanaris, and before long they saw the answering flash of two guns on their starboard, and five seconds afterwards heard the report.