"Ah! d--n you," said Ithuel, grating his teeth and shaking his fist in the direction of the spot where this transient gleam of brightness had disappeared--"I know you, and your old tricks with your lanterns and night-signals. Here goes the answer." 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. This she did when close under the citadel or out of sight of the town, the sentinels above hearing the flaps of her canvas, without exactly understanding whence they came. At this instant Ithuel let off a second rocket, and the lugger showed a light on her starboard bow, so concealed, however, on all sides but one, as to be visible only in the direction of the boat. As this was done she put her helm hard down and hauled her fore-sheet over flat to windward. Five minutes later Ithuel had reached her deck, and the boat was hauled in as if it had been inflated silk, Deceived by the second rocket, the Proserpine now made her number with regular signal lanterns, with the intention of obtaining that of the stranger, trusting that the promontory would conceal it from the vessels in the bay. This told Raoul the precise position of his enemy, and he was not sorry to see that he was already to the westward of her; a fact that permitted him to slip round the island again, so near in as to be complete concealed by the background of cliffs. By the aid of an excellent night-glass, too, he was enabled