nd; and, without
communicating with any on board, the truth flashed on his mind also, and
he gave chase. When the other boats were ready, the two that were on the
outside of the ship pulled off to seaward a short distance, to look
about them in that direction; while the two others, hearing the oars of
the light gig in which Yelverton was glancing ahead, followed the sound,
under the impression that they were in pursuit of the yawl. Such was the
state of things at the commencement of an exceedingly vigorous and
hot pursuit.

As Raoul and Ithuel had been at work, while time was lost in doubt in
and around the ship, they had got about three hundred yards the start of
even Yelverton. Their boat pulled unusually well; and being intended for
only two oars, it might be deemed full manned, with two as vigorous
hands in it as those it had. Still, it was not a match for the second
gig, and the four chosen men who composed its crew, which was the boat
taken by Yelverton, in the hurry of the moment. In a pull of a mile and
a half, the yawl was certain to be overtaken; and the practiced ears of
Raoul soon assured him of the fact. His own oars were muffled. He
determined to profit: by the circumstance, and turn aside, in the hope
that his fleet pursuers would pass him unseen. A sheer was accordingly
given to the boat, and instead of pulling directly toward the land the
fugitives inclined to the westward; the sea appearing the most obscure
in that direction, on account of the proximity of Capri, This artifice
was completely successful. Yelverton was so eager in the chase, that he
kept his eyes riveted before him, fancying from time to time that he saw
the boat ahead, and he passed within a hundred and fifty yards of the
yawl, without in the least suspecting her vicinity. Raoul and Ithuel
ceased rowing, to permit this exchange of position, and the former had a
few sarcastic remarks on the stupidity of his enemies, as some relief to
the feelings of the moment. None of the English had muffled oars. On the
contrary, the sounds of the regular man-of-war jerks were quite audible
in every direction; but so familiar were they to the ears of the
Proserpines, that the crews of the two boats that came next after
Yelverton actually followed the sounds of his oars, under the belief
that they were in the wake of the fugitives. In this manner, then, Raoul
suffered three of the five boats to pass ahead of him. The remaining two
were so distant as not