for Athens,
off which place, the French commander said he was certain to find a ship
of his own country to receive him and his crew.

A French frigate was fallen in with, as was expected, and the French
captain and his surviving officers and crew were transferred to her.
They were all full of the deepest expressions of gratitude for the
service which had been rendered them, and all united in complimenting
Bowse for his behaviour during the trying time of the shipwreck, which
had been the chief means of preserving their lives.

I will not describe Fleetwood's feelings on seeing Colonel Gauntlett,
and on hearing that Ada had, to a certainty, been carried off by Zappa.
He had been prepared for the account; for he believed, from the first,
that it was for that purpose he had attacked the _Zodiac_.

Such, however, was a conjecture a lover would naturally form, as he
considered her the most valuable thing on board; but, perhaps, the more
worldly reader may consider that the rich cargo had greater attractions,
as well as the prospect of a large sum for her ransom. He was not aware
that, at that very time, Zappa had sent to Aaron Bannech, the old Jew of
Malta, to negotiate with her friends for that very purpose. The
colonel, of course, remained on board to assist in the search for his
niece, while Bowse begged that he might be allowed to remain also for
the same object, and his men entered on board the _Ione_, which was some
hands short.

A few words must explain the appearance of Captain Bowse and his crew
and passengers on the rock. When Zappa had left the _Zodiac_ he had
bored holes in her, for the purpose of sending her to the bottom; she,
however, did not sink as soon as expected; and Bowse, with some of his
people who were unhurt, were able to put a boat to rights, and to launch
her. The boat carried them all, and they were making for the nearest
coast when they were picked up by a French man-of-war. The French ship
was soon after wrecked on a barren rock, on which they existed without
food for many days, and where many of the Frenchmen went mad. Here they
remained till the _Ione_ took them off.

Fleetwood had been very unhappy at having been compelled to go so much
out of his way to get rid of the Frenchmen; but he was well rewarded for
the delay, by falling in, when just off the mouth of the Gulf of Egina,
with the very brig he had chased before touching at Cephalonia, the
_Ypsilante_. Captain Teodoro Vassil