his extraordinary
indiscretion of the night before.

Francesca sat down to breakfast with us, having quite unexpectedly made
her appearance on deck, fresh, blooming, and cheerful, about half an
hour before. To my unbounded surprise, she assured me that she had
passed a very tolerable night, having indeed been sound asleep for the
greater portion of the time. She had been somewhat alarmed when the
cutter was thrown upon her beam-ends, but had not been in the least
incommoded by the accident, nor indeed aware of its full extent, the cot
upon which she was lying being a very ingenious affair, so contrived
that it always maintained a perfectly horizontal position, no matter how
much the cutter rolled and pitched, nor how greatly she heeled over.
This was very gratifying news to me, for I fully expected to see her
appear in the morning excessively frightened, and possibly very
seriously bruised by the violent motion of the little craft in which she
had passed so adventurous a night.

By the time that we had all breakfasted the wind had so far moderated
that it became necessary to make sail upon the cutter; the "Vigilant"
having crept up well abeam of us, though still hull-down and apparently
close in with the land. We accordingly shook both reefs out of the
mainsail, and got the foresail and working-jib set, with which canvas we
rushed along in true racing style, our lee-rail well buried, and the
craft taking just enough weather-helm to allow of her being steered to a
hair's-breadth. Her performance perfectly enchanted me; I had never
seen anything like it before, and to my unaccustomed eyes she seemed
fairly to fly. Even Giaccomo and Francois, both of whom had repeatedly
sailed in her, asserted that they had never seen her do so well before.

When we again had time to take a glance to leeward at the "Vigilant," we
discovered that well-named craft bowling along under whole canvas, and
evidently trying her hardest to head-reach upon us. For the first half-
hour we endeavoured to flatter ourselves that we were still holding our
own, but at the end of that time such self-deception was no longer
possible; the breeze suited us admirably, but there was still too much
sea for the little "Mouette," and the "Vigilant's" superior power at
length began to tell. Had they carried sail as recklessly through the
night as we had, there can be no doubt they would have been alongside of
us by daylight. By this time, too, we were abr