ry on the
tack she was then steering. To have gone about would have been to have
abandoned the chase, as it would have carried the ship off due north,
while le Feu-Follet was gliding down to the southward and westward at
the rate of seven knots. The distance across the canal is only about
thirty miles, and there would not have been time to recover the
lost ground.

This uncertainty made a most feverish moment on board the Proserpine,
as she came up fast toward the headland. All depended on getting by
without tacking. The appearances were favorable for deep water close in;
but there is always the danger of rocks to be dreaded near mountainous
coasts. The promontory, too, was comparatively low; and this was rather
an indication that it ought not to be approached too closely.
Winchester was in his berth, just beginning to feel the smart of his
wound; but Griffin was at the captain's elbow, both he and the third
lieutenant entering keenly into all their commander's wishes and
anxieties.

"There she goes, into the very breakers!" exclaimed Cuffe, as they
watched le Feu-Follet in her attempt to pass the promontory; "Monsieur
Yvard must be determined to cast away his craft rather than be taken. It
will be touch and go with him."

"I think not, Captain Cuffe," answered Griffin; "the coast is bold
hereabouts, and even the Proserpine would find sufficient water there,
where the lugger now is, I hope we shall not be obliged to tack, sir."

"Aye, this is very well for an irresponsible--but, when it got to a
court, and punishment, I fear that all the last would fall on my
shoulders, should his Majesty's ship happen to lay her bones along-shore
here. No, no, Griffin; we must go a clear cable's length to windward of
_that_, or I go about, though Raoul Yvard were never taken."

"There, he fetches up, by George!" cried Yelverton, the youngest
lieutenant; and for a moment it was in truth believed in the frigate
that le Feu-Follet, as a breaker actually curled directly under her lee,
was aground. But this notion lasted a moment only, the little lugger
continuing her course as swiftly as before; and a minute or two later
keeping a little away to ease her spars, having been jammed up as close
as possible previously, in order to weather the extreme end of what was
thought to be the dangerous point. The frigate was fully two miles
astern; and, instead of losing anything of her vantage-ground, she was
kept so near the wind as to be occas