h. On receipt of it the Governor had instantly wired orders
that no vessel was to be allowed to quit Pamlico Sound without having
been first subjected to a most rigorous search. Another dispatch
ordered the cruiser _Falcon_, which was stationed in the port, to
carry out the Governor's instructions in this respect. At the same
time measures were taken to keep a strict lookout in every town and
village in the State.

The Count d'Artigas could see the _Falcon_, which was a couple of
miles away to the east in the estuary, getting steam up and making
hurried preparations to carry out her mission. It would take at least
an hour before the warship could be got ready to steam out, and the
schooner might by that time have gained a good start.

"Shall I weigh anchor?" demanded Captain Spade.

"Yes, as we have a fair wind; but you can take your time about it,"
replied the Count d'Artigas.

"The passes of Pamlico Sound will be under observation," observed
Engineer Serko, "and no vessel will be able to get out without
receiving a visit from gentlemen as inquisitive as they will be
indiscreet."

"Never mind, get under way all the same," ordered the Count. "When the
officers of the cruiser or the Custom-House officers have been over
the _Ebba_ the embargo will be raised. I shall be indeed surprised if
we are not allowed to go about our business."

"With a thousand pardons for the liberty taken, and best wishes for a
good voyage and speedy return," chuckled Engineer Serko, following the
phrase with a loud and prolonged laugh.

When the news was received at New-Berne, the authorities at first were
puzzled to know whether the missing inventor and his keeper had fled
or been carried off. As, however, Roch's flight could not have taken
place without the connivance of Gaydon, this supposition was speedily
abandoned. In the opinion of the director and management of Healthful
House the warder was absolutely above suspicion. They must both, then,
have been kidnapped.

It can easily be imagined what a sensation the news caused in the
town. What! the French inventor who had been so closely guarded had
disappeared, and with him the secret of the wonderful fulgurator that
nobody had been able to worm out of him? Might not the most serious
consequences follow? Might not the discovery of the new engine be lost
to America forever? If the daring act had been perpetrated on behalf
of another nation, might not that nation, having Thomas Roch i