sta," he commenced, "that you saw me in the town of
Porto Ferrajo and in the island of Elba?"

"Si--in which town I have the honor to be one of the authorities."

"You say I professed to command a vessel in the service of the King of
England; a felucca, called ze Ving-and-Ving?"

"Si--ze Ving-y-Ving--the commander of that felucca."

"I understood you to say, Mr. Podesta," put in Lyon, "that the craft was
a lugger?"

"A felucca-lugger, Signor Capitano--nothing more nor less than that, on
my honor."

"And all these honorable officers well know," observed Raoul,
ironically, "that a felucca-lugger and a lugger such as le Feu-Follet is
understood to be are very different things. Now, Signore, you have never
heard me say that I am a Frenchman?"

"Non--you have not been so weak as to confess that to one who hates the
name of the Francese. Cospetto! If all the Grand Duke's subjects
detested his enemies as I do, he would be the most powerful prince
in Italy!"

"No doubt, Signore; and now suffer me to inquire if you heard any other
name for that felucca than ze Ving-and-Ving. Did I ever call her le
Feu-Follet?"

"Non--always ze Ving-y-Ving; never anything else; but--"

"Your pardon, Signore; have the goodness to answer my questions. I
called the felucca ze Ving-and-Ving; and I called myself le Capitaine
Smeet; is it not true?"

"Si--Ving-y-Ving and il Capitano Smees--Sir Smees, a signore of an
illustrious English family of that name, if I remember right."

Raoul smiled, for he was confident this notion proceeded principally
from the self-illusion of the two Italians themselves; the little he had
said on the subject having been drawn out more by their suggestions than
by any design on his part. Still he did not deem it prudent to
contradict the podesta, who, as yet, had testified to nothing that could
possibly criminate him.

"If a young man has the vanity to wish to be thought noble," answered
Raoul, calmly, "it may prove his folly, but it does not prove him a spy.
You did not hear me confess myself a Frenchman, you say: now did you not
hear me say I was born in Guernsey?"

"Si--the Signore did say that the family of Smees came from that
island--as the vice-governatore calls it, though I acknowledge I never
heard of such an island. There are Sicilia, Sardegna, Elba, Caprea,
Ischia, Irlanda, Inghilterra, Scozia, Malta, Capraya, Pianosa, Gorgona,
and America, with several more in the east; but I never heard of suc