Chapter 8 - Page 2

and merit--what is thy will?"

This question was put to a servant, who entered at that moment, holding
in his hand a piece of paper, which he desired to lay before his master.

"A cavaliere is without, Signor Andrea, who asks the honor of an
audience, and who sends in his name, as your eccellenza will find it on
this paper."

The vice-governatore took the slip of paper and read aloud: "Edward
Griffin, tenente della marina Inglesa."

"Ah! here is an officer sent from 'ze Ving-y-Ving' with some
communication, friend Vito; it is fortunate you are still here to hear
what he has to say. Show the lieutenant in, Pietro."

One who understood Englishmen better than Andrea Barrofaldi would have
been satisfied at a glance that he who now entered was really a native
of that country. He was a young man of some two or three and twenty, of
a ruddy, round, good-natured face, wearing an undress coat of the
service to which he professed to belong, and whose whole air and manner
betrayed his profession quite as much as his country. The salutations he
uttered were in very respectable Italian, familiarity with the language
being the precise reason why he had been selected for the errand on
which he had come. After these salutations he put a piece of parchment
into Andrea's hand, remarking:

"If you read English, Signore, you will perceive by that commission I am
the person I represent myself to be."

"Doubtless, Signor Tenente, you belong to ze Ving-y-Ving and are a
subordinate of Sir Smees?"

The young man looked surprised and at the same time half disposed to
laugh, though a sense of decorum suppressed the latter inclination.

"I belong to His Britannic Majesty's ship Proserpine, Signore," he dryly
answered, "and know not what you mean by the Ving-y-Ving. Captain Cuffe
of that ship, the frigate you saw off your harbor this morning, has sent
me down in the felucca that got in this evening to communicate
intelligence concerning the lugger which we chased to the southward
about nine o'clock, but which, I see, is again snug at her anchor in
this bay. Our ship was lying behind Capraya when I left her, but will be
here to take me off, and to hear the news, before daylight, should the
wind ever blow again."

Andrea Barrofaldi and Vito Viti stared, and that, too, as if a
messenger had come from the lower regions to summon them away for their
misdeeds. Lieutenant Griffin spoke unusually good Italian for a
foreigner, and his manner of proceeding was so straightforward and
direct as to carry with it every appearance of truth.

"You do not know what I mean by ze Ving-y-Ving?" demanded the