he morning, in the vain hope of seeing Ada, was returning in a
disconsolate mood along the ramparts, and meditating in what way his
duty should direct him to proceed, when his eye fell on the speronara,
hove-to directly below him, Manuel's boat just touching her side.

As he had, like most naval officers, a remarkably good glass in his
pocket, he directed it towards the little vessel, and among the people
on her deck he fancied that he distinguished the figure of the stranger
who had paid so much attention to Ada on the previous evening. Now, as
he understood that that gentleman was about to sail immediately for
Greece, he was naturally surprised, indeed so unlikely did it appear,
that he thought he must be mistaken. Although he was very far from
being of a suspicious disposition, yet combining the manner in which the
stranger had gone on board, and the doubtful character of the craft
herself, he determined to watch her movements.

Another cause also combined to create very extraordinary suspicions in
his mind respecting the character of the stranger, who had made his
appearance so suddenly in Malta. On his way to Colonel Gauntlett's
residence, that morning, he had passed the office of the chief of the
harbour police, and on looking in to speak a word with Captain S--, he
found him engaged in examining three Greek merchants, who stated that
the vessel in which they were making a passage from Athens to Sicily,
had been plundered by a well-known pirate of the name of Zappa, and that
he had appeared on board their vessel; that they had spoken to him, and
that they felt almost confident that they had seen the same person,
without any disguise, in a coffee-house in Valetta on the previous
evening. They acknowledged, that though at first they had no doubt of
his identity, yet that when he came up to them, and entered into
conversation, they were staggered in their belief; but that after he had
disappeared it again occurred to them with greater force than ever, that
he must be the man they at first thought. When convinced of this they
immediately set out in the hopes of falling in with him, and with the
intention of handing him over to the police; but they were unsuccessful
in their search, and when, after many inquiries, they learned before
whom they should make their depositions, it was too late in the day to
see any one. After sleeping on the subject, they were as strong in
their opinion as on the previous night, and