brother midshipman, and handed him the
telescope.

"What do you think of her?" he asked. "She is a rum one to look at,
isn't she?"

Duff burst into a fit of laughter.

"Why, if the fellows haven't set their jib right between the long poking
yards of their foresail and mainsail," he exclaimed, "I never did see
such an odd rig as that before. What in the world is she?"

"That's what they call a speronara in these parts, sir," answered Bowse;
"but you'll see rummer rigs than that before long, when you go up the
Archipelago. You see that wide spread of canvass is made by crossing
her two latine sails, and setting their jib as a topsail between them.
They can lower that down, and haul their wind in an instant. These
sails, to my mind, are very good where light airs and smooth seas
prevail, though they would not answer in our northern latitudes; and
they require a good many more people to handle them than we could spare
for the work. They reef their canvas, not like fore-and-aft sails in
general, by the foot, but by the leach along to the yard. There's no
doubt, however, though they have an outlandish look, that they sail well
on a wind, and not badly before it, too, as we see by the craft below us
there."

Onward gracefully glided the speronara--such is the name given to the
craft which ply between Malta and Sicily with goods and passengers, and
from some port in the latter island she seemed to have come, from the
direction in which she appeared. On she came very rapidly, considering
the light breeze; she was evidently a very fast craft of her class. She
came abreast of Fort Saint Elmo, and soon after took in her outlandish
topsail, as Duff called, just before she passed close under the spot
where our friends were posted, so that they could look directly down on
her deck. She seemed to be full of men habited in the long blue caps
and striped shirt of Mediterranean mariners, with light-blue trowsers,
and a red sash round the waist. She was of considerable size, and, what
is unusual with craft of her description, she was decked fore-and-aft,
though her between-decks must have been inconveniently low. There was a
place sunk aft where stood the helmsman holding his long tiller, and on
either side were arranged, ready for use, several long sweeps; but the
wind was at present sufficient to impel the vessel along without their
aid. Thus much was seen as she ran up the harbour. She passed close to
the _Zodiac_, th