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The Wing and Wing by J. Fenimore Cooper

J >> J. Fenimore Cooper >> The Wing and Wing




It was no more than natural that such a chase should occasion some
animation in a place as retired and ordinarily as dull as Porto Ferrajo.
Several of the young idlers of the garrison obtained horses and galloped
up among the hills to watch the result; the mountains being pretty well
intersected by bridle-paths, though totally without regular roads. They
who remained in the town, as a matter of course, were not disposed to
let so favorable a subject for discourse die away immediately, for want
of a disposition to gossip on it. Little else was talked of that day
than the menaced attack of the republican frigate, and the escape of the
lugger. Some, indeed, still doubted, for every question has its two
sides, and there was just enough of dissent to render the discussions
lively and the arguments ingenious. Among the disputants, Vito Viti
acted a prominent part. Having committed himself so openly by his
"vivas" and his public remarks in the port, he felt it due to his own
character to justify all he had said, and Raoul Yvard could not have
desired a warmer advocate than he had in the podesta. The worthy
magistrate exaggerated the vice-governatore's knowledge of English, by
way of leaving no deficiency in the necessary proofs of the lugger's
national character. Nay, he even went so far as to affirm that he had
comprehended a portion of the documents exhibited by the "Signor Smees"
himself; and as to "ze Ving-y-Ving," any one acquainted in the least
with the geography of the British Channel would understand that she was
precisely the sort of craft that the semi-Gallic inhabitants of Guernsey
and Jersey would be apt to send forth to cruise against the out-and-out
Gallic inhabitants of the adjacent main.

During all these discussions, there was one heart in Porto Ferrajo that
was swelling with the conflicting emotions of gratitude,
disappointment, joy, and fear, though the tongue of its owner was
silent. Of all of her sex in the place, Ghita alone had nothing to
conjecture, no speculation to advance, no opinion to maintain, nor any
wish to express. Still she listened eagerly, and it was not the least of
her causes of satisfaction to find that her own hurried interviews with
the handsome privateersman had apparently escaped observation. At length
her mind was fully lightened of its apprehensions, leaving nothing but
tender regrets, by the return of the horsemen from the mountains. These
persons reported that the upper sails of the frigate were just visible
in the northern board, so far as they could judge, even more distant
than the island of Capraya, while the lugger had beaten up almost as far
to windward as Pianosa, and then seemed disposed to stand over toward
the coast of Corsica, doubtless with an intention to molest the commerce
of that hostile island.



CHAPTER VII.

_Ant_.--"And, indeed sir, there are cozeners abroad; therefore it behoves men
to be wary."

_Clo_.--"Fear not thou, man, thou shalt lose nothing here."

_Ant._--"I hope so, sir, for I have about me many parcels of change."
_Winter's Tale_.

Such was the state of things at Porto Ferrajo at noon, or about the hour
when its inhabitants bethought them of their mid-day meal. With most the
siesta followed, though the sea air, with its invigorating coolness,
rendered that indulgence less necessary to these islanders than to most
of their neighbors on the main. Then succeeded the reviving animation of
the afternoon, and the return of the zephyr, or the western breeze. So
regular, indeed, are these changes in the currents of the air during the
summer months, that the mariner can rely with safety on meeting a light
breeze from the southward throughout the morning, a calm at noon--the
siesta of the Mediterranean--and the delightfully cool wind from the
west, after three or four o'clock; this last is again succeeded at night
by a breeze directly from the land. Weeks at a time have we known this
order of things to be uninterrupted; and when the changes did
occasionally occur, it was only in the slight episodes of showers and
thunderstorms, of which, however, Italy has far fewer than our
own coast.

Such, then, was the state of Porto Ferrajo toward the evening that
succeeded this day of bustle and excitement. The zephyr again
prevailed--the idle once more issued forth for their sunset walk--and
the gossips were collecting to renew their conjectures and to start some
new point in their already exhausted discussions, when a rumor spread
through the place, like fire communicated to a train, that "ze
Ving-y-Ving" was once more coming down on the weather side of the
island, precisely as she had approached on the previous evening, with
the confidence of a friend and the celerity of a bird. Years had passed
since such a tumult was awakened in the capital of Elba. Men, women, and
children poured from the houses and were seen climbing the streets, all
hastening to the promenade, as if to satisfy themselves with their own
eyes of the existence of some miracle. In vain did the infirm and aged
call on the vigorous and more youthful for the customary assistance;
they were avoided like the cases of plague, and were left to hobble up
the terraced street as best they might. Even mothers, after dragging
them at their own sides till fearful of being too late, abandoned their
young in the highway, certain of finding them rolled to the foot of the
declivity, should they fail of scrambling to its summit. In short, it
was a scene of confusion in which there was much to laugh at, something
to awaken wonder, and not a little that was natural.

Ten minutes had not certainly elapsed after the rumor reached the lower
part of the town ere two thousand persons were on the hill, including
nearly all the principal personages of the place, 'Maso Tonti, Ghita,
and the different characters known to the reader. So nearly did the
scene of this evening resemble that of the past, the numbers of the
throng on the hill and the greater interest excepted, that one who had
been present at the former might readily have fancied the latter merely
its continuation. There, indeed, was the lugger, under her foresail and
mainsail, with the jigger brailed, coming down wing-and-wing, and
glancing along the glittering sea like the duck sailing toward her nest.
This time, however, the English ensign was flying at the end of the
jigger yard, as if in triumph; and the little craft held her way nearer
to the rocks, like one acquainted with the coast and fearing no danger.
There was a manner of established confidence in the way in which she
trusted herself under the muzzles of guns that might have destroyed her
in a very few minutes, and no one who saw her approach could very well
believe that she was anything but a known, as well as a
confirmed, friend.

"Would any of the republican rascals, think you, Signor Andrea," asked
Vito Viti, in triumph, "dare to come into Porto Ferrajo in this style;
knowing, too, as does this 'Sir Smees,' the sort of people he will have
to deal with! Remember, Vice-governatore, that the man has actually been
ashore among us, and would not be likely to run his head into the
lion's mouth."

"Thou hast changed thine opinion greatly, neighbor Vito," answered the
vice-governatore, somewhat dryly, for he was far from being satisfied on
the subject of Sir Cicero and on those of certain other circumstances in
English history and politics; "it better becomes magistrates to be
cautious and wary."

"Well, if there be a more cautious and circumspect man in Elba than the
poor podesta of the Porto Ferrajo, let him stand forth, o' God's name,
and prove his deeds! I do not esteem myself, Signor Vice-governatore, as
the idlest or as the most ignorant man in the Grand Duke's territories.
There may be wiser, among whom I place your eccellenza; but there is
not a more loyal subject or a more zealous friend of truth."

"I believe it, good Vito," returned Andrea, smiling kindly on his old
associate, "and have ever so considered thy advice and services. Still,
I wish I knew something of this Sir Cicero; for, to be frank with thee,
I have even foregone my siesta in searching the books in quest of such
a man."

"And do they not confirm every syllable the Signor Smees has said?"

"So far from it, that I do not even find the name. It is true, several
distinguished orators of that nation are styled _English_ Ciceroes; but
then all people do this, by way of commendation."

"I do not know that, Signore--I do not know that--it may happen in our
Italy; but would it come to pass, think you, among remote and so lately
barbarous nations as England, Germany, and France?"

"Thou forgettest, friend Vito," returned the vice-governatore, smiling
now, in pity of his companion's ignorance and prejudices, as just before
he had smiled in kindness, "that we Italians took the pains to civilize
these people a thousand years ago, and that they have not gone backward
all this time. But there can be no doubt that 'ze Ving-y-Ving' means to
enter our bay again, and there stands the 'Signor Smees' examining us
with a glass, as if he, too, contemplated another interview."

"It strikes me, Vice-governatore, that it would be a sin next to heresy
to doubt the character of those who so loyally put their trust in us. No
republican would dare to anchor in the bay of Porto Ferrajo a second
time. _Once_ it might possibly be done; but _twice?_--no, never, never."

"I do not know but you are right, Vito, and I am sure I hope so. Will
you descend to the port and see that the forms are complied with? Then
glean such useful circumstances as you can."

The crowd was now in motion toward the lower part of the town to meet
the lugger; and at this suggestion the podesta hurried down in the
throng, to be in readiness to receive the "Signor Smees" as soon as he
should land. It was thought more dignified and proper for the
vice-governatore to remain, and await to hear the report of the supposed
English officer where he was. Ghita was one of the few also who remained
on the heights, her heart now beating with renewed apprehensions of the
dangers that her lover had again braved on her account, and now nearly
overflowing with tenderness, as she admitted the agreeable conviction
that, had she not been in Porto Ferrajo, Raoul Yvard would never have
incurred such risks.

Ghita delle Torri, or Ghita of the Towers, as the girl was ordinarily
termed by those who knew her, from a circumstance in her situation that
will appear as we advance in the tale, or Ghita Caraccioli, as was her
real name, had been an orphan from infancy. She had imbibed a strength
of character and a self-reliance from her condition, that might
otherwise have been wanting in one so young, and of a native disposition
so truly gentle. An aunt had impressed on her mind the lessons of female
decorum; and her uncle, who had abandoned the world on account of a
strong religious sentiment, had aided in making her deeply devout and
keenly conscientious. The truth of her character rendered her indisposed
to the deception which Raoul was practising, while feminine weakness
inclined her to forgive the offence in the motive. She had shuddered
again and again, as she remembered how deeply the young sailor was
becoming involved in frauds,--and frauds, too, that might so easily
terminate in violence and bloodshed; and then she had trembled under the
influence of a gentler emotion as she remembered that all these risks
were run for her. Her reason had long since admonished her that Raoul
Yvard and Ghita Caraccioli ought to be strangers to each other; but her
heart told a different story. The present was an occasion suited to
keeping these conflicting feelings keenly alive, and, as has been said,
when most of the others hastened down toward the port to be present when
the Wing-and-Wing came in, she remained on the hill, brooding over her
own thoughts, much of the time bathed in tears.

But Raoul had no intention of trusting his Jack-o'-Lantern where it
might so readily be extinguished by the hand of man. Instead of taking
shelter against any new roving republican who might come along behind
the buildings of the port, as had been expected, he shot past the end of
the quay and anchored within a few fathoms of the very spot he had
quitted that morning, merely dropping his kedge under foot as before.
Then he stepped confidently into his boat and pulled for the landing.

"Eh, Signor Capitano," cried Vito Viti, as he met his new protege with
an air of cordiality as soon as the foot of the latter touched the
shore, "we looked for the pleasure of receiving you into our bosom, as
it were, here in the haven. How ingeniously you led off that _sans
culotte_ this morning! Ah, the Inglese are the great nation of the
ocean, Colombo notwithstanding! The vice-governatore told me all about
your illustrious female admiral, Elisabetta, and the Spanish armada; and
there was Nelsoni; and now we have Smees!"

Raoul accepted these compliments, both national and personal, in a very
gracious manner, squeezing the hand of the podesta with suitable
cordiality and condescension, acting the great man as if accustomed to
this sort of incense from infancy. As became his public situation, as
well as his character, he proposed paying his duty immediately to the
superior authorities of the island.

"King George, my master," continued Raoul, as he and Vito Viti walked
from the quay toward the residence of Andrea Barrofaldi, "is
particularly pointed on this subject, with us all, in his personal
orders. 'Never enter a port of one of my allies, Smeet,' he said, the
very last time I took leave of him, 'without immediately hastening with
your duty to the commandant of the place. You never lose anything by
being liberal in politeness; and England is too polished a country to be
outdone in these things by even the Italians, the parents of modern
civilization.'"

"You are happy in having such a sovrano, and still more so in being
allowed to approach his sacred person."

"Oh! as to the last, the navy is his pet; he considers us captains in
particular as his children. 'Never enter London, my dear Smeet,' he said
to me, 'without coming to the palace, where you will always find a
father'--you know he has one son among us who was lately a captain, as
well as myself."

"San Stefano! and he the child of a great king! I did not know that, I
confess, Signore."

"Why, it is a law in England that the king shall give at least one son
to the marine. 'Yes,' said his Majesty, 'always be prompt in calling on
the superior authorities, and remember me benevolently and
affectionately to them, one and all, even down to the subordinate
magistrates, who live in their intimacy.'"

Raoul delighted in playing the part he was now performing, but he was a
little addicted to over-acting it. Like all exceedingly bold and decided
geniuses, he was constantly striding across that step which separates
the sublime from the ridiculous, and consequently ran no small hazard in
the way of discovery. But with Vito Viti he incurred little risk on this
score, provincial credulity and a love of the marvellous coming in aid
of his general ignorance, to render him a safe depository of anything of
this sort that the other might choose to advance. Vito Viti felt it to
be an honor to converse with a man who, in his turn, had conversed with
a king; and as he puffed his way up the steep ascent again he did not
fail to express some of the feelings which were glowing in his breast.

"Is it not a happiness to serve such a prince?" he exclaimed--"nay, to
die for him!"

"The latter is a service I have not yet performed," answered Raoul,
innocently, "but which may one day well happen. Do you not think,
podesta, that he who lays down his life for his prince merits
canonization?"

"That would fill the calendar too soon, in these wars, Signor Smees; but
I will concede you the generals and admirals, and other great
personages. Si--a general or an admiral who dies for his sovereign does
deserve to be made a saint--this would leave these miserable French
republicans, Signore, without hope or honor!"

"They are _canaille_ from the highest to the lowest, and can reasonably
expect nothing better. If they wish to be canonized, let them restore
the Bourbons, and put themselves lawfully in the way of such a blessing.
The chase of this morning, Signor Vito Viti, must at least have amused
the town?"

The podesta wanted but this opening to pour out a history of his own
emotions, sensations, and raptures. He expatiated in glowing terms on
the service the lugger had rendered the place by leading off the
rascally republicans, showing that he considered the manoeuvre of
passing the port, instead of entering it, as one of the most remarkable
of which he had ever heard, or even read.

"I defied the vice-governatore to produce an example of a finer
professional inspiration in the whole range of history, beginning with
his Tacitus and ending with your new English work on Roma. I doubt if
the Elder Pliny, or Mark Antony, or even Caesar, ever did a finer thing,
Signore; and I am not a man addicted to extravagance in compliments. Had
it been a fleet of vessels of three decks, instead of a little lugger,
Christendom would have rung with the glory of the achievement!"

"Had it been but a frigate, my excellent friend, the manoeuvre would
have been unnecessary. Peste! it is not a single republican ship that
can make a stout English frigate skulk along the rocks and fly like a
thief at night."

"Ah, there is the vice-governatore walking on his terrace, Sir Smees,
and dying with impatience to greet you. We will drop the subject for
another occasion, and a bottle of good Florence liquor."

The reception which Andrea Barrofaldi gave Raoul was far less warm than
that he received from the podesta, though it was polite, and without any
visible signs of distrust.

"I have come, Signor Vice-governatore," said the privateersman, "in
compliance with positive orders from my master, to pay my respects to
you again, and to report my arrival once more in your bay, though the
cruise made since my last departure has not been so long as an East
India voyage."

"Short as it has been, we should have reason to regret your absence,
Signore, were it not for the admirable proofs it has afforded us of your
resources and seamanship," returned Andrea, with due complaisance. "To
own the truth, when I saw you depart it was with the apprehension that
we should never enjoy this satisfaction again. But, like your English
Sir Cicero, the second coming may prove even more agreeable than
the first."

Raoul laughed, and he even had the grace to blush a little; after which
he appeared to reflect intensely on some matter of moment. Smiles
struggled round his handsome mouth, and then he suddenly assumed an air
of sailor-like frankness and disclosed his passing sensations in words.

"Signor Vice-governatore, I ask the favor of one moment's private
conference; Signor Vito Viti, give us leave a single moment, if you
please. I perceive, Signore," continued Raoul, as he and Andrea walked a
little aside, "that you have not easily forgotten my little fanfaronade
about our English Cicero. But what will you have?--we sailors are sent
to sea children, and we know little of books. My excellent father,
Milord Smeet, had me put in a frigate when I was only twelve, an age at
which one knows very little of Ciceros or Dantes or Corneilles, even as
you will confess. Thus, when I found myself in the presence of a
gentleman whose reputation for learning has reached far beyond the
island he so admirably governs, a silly ambition has led me into a folly
that he finds it hard to forgive. If I have talked of names of which I
know nothing, it may be a weakness such as young men will fall into; but
surely it is no heinous crime."

"You allow, Signore, that there has been no English Sir Cicero?"

"The truth compels me to say, I know nothing about it. But it is hard
for a very young man, and one, too, that feels his deficiencies of
education, to admit all this to a philosopher on a first acquaintance.
It becomes a different thing when natural modesty is encouraged by a
familiar goodness of heart; and a day's acquaintance with the Signor
Barrofaldi is as much as a year with an ordinary man."

"If this be the case, Sir Smees, I can readily understand, and as
willingly overlook what has passed," returned the vice-governatore, with
a self-complacency that in nothing fell short of that which Vito Viti
had so recently exhibited. "It must be painful to a sensitive mind to
feel the deficiencies which unavoidably accompany the want of
opportunities for study; and I at least can now say how delightful it is
to witness the ingenuousness which admits it. Then, if England has never
possessed a Cicero in name, doubtless she has had many in
qualifications, after allowing for the halo which time ever throws
around a reputation. Should your duty often call you this way, Signore,
during the summer, it will add to the pleasure I experience in enjoying
the advantage of your acquaintance, to be permitted, in some slight
degree, to direct your reading to such works as, with a mind like yours,
will be certain to lead to profit and pleasure."

Raoul made a suitable acknowledgment for this offer, and from that
moment the best understanding existed between the parties. The
privateersman, who had received a much better education than he
pretended to, and who was a consummate actor as well as, on certain
occasions, a practised flatterer, determined to be more cautious in
future, sparing his literary conjectures, whatever liberties he might
take with other subjects. And yet this reckless and daring mariner never
flattered nor deceived Ghita in anything! With her he had been all
sincerity, the influence he had obtained over the feelings of that
pure-minded girl being as much the result of the nature and real feeling
he had manifested, as of his manly appearance and general powers of
pleasing. It would have been, indeed, matter of interesting observation
for one curious in the study of human nature to note how completely the
girl's innocence and simplicity of character had extended itself over
every act of the young man that was any way connected with her;
preventing his even feigning that religion which he certainly did not
feel, and the want of which was the sole obstacle to the union he had
now solicited for near a twelvemonth, and which, of all others, was the
object by far the closest to his heart. With Andrea Barrofaldi and Vito
Viti, and most especially with the hated English, it was a very
different thing, however; and seldom was Raoul happier than when he was
employed in precisely such a scene of mystification as that in which he
was at that moment engaged.

The vice-governatore having established relations so completely amicable
with the "Signor Smees," could do no less than invite his guest to enter
the palazzo, along with himself and the podesta. As it was yet too light
for the sailor to seek an interview with Ghita, he cheerfully accepted
the offer; making a careful examination of the whole of the northern
margin of the sea, from his elevated position, however, before he
crossed the threshold. This little delay on Raoul's part enabled the
podesta to have a passing word with his friend unobserved.

"You have found 'Sir Smees,'" said Vito Viti, with earnestness, "all
that your wisdom and prudence could desire, I trust? For my part, I
consider him a most interesting youth; one destined at some future time
to lead fleets and dispose of the fortunes of nations."

"He is more amiable and even better informed than I had thought,
neighbor Vito Viti. He gives up his Sir Cicero with a grace that causes
one regret it was necessary; and, like yourself, I make no doubt of his
becoming an illustrious admiral in time. It is true his father, 'Milordo
Smees,' has not done justice to his education; but it is not too late
yet to repair that evil. Go, desire him to enter; for I am impatient to
draw his attention to certain works that may be useful to one in his
line of life."

At this suggestion the podesta returned to the door in order to usher
the imaginary Guernsey-man into the residence. He found Raoul still
standing on the entrance, examining the sea, There were two or three
coasters, feluccas, as usual, stealing along the coast, in the Italian
fashion, equally afraid of the barbarians of the south shore and of the
French of the north. All these would have been good prizes; but, to do
the privateersman justice, he was little in the habit of molesting
mariners of so low a class. There was one felucca, however, that was
just rounding the promontory, coming in from the north; and with the
people of this craft he determined to have some communication as soon as
he returned to the port, with a view to ascertain if she had fallen in
with the frigate. Just as he had come to this resolution, the podesta
joined him, and he was ushered into the house.