vision of the artillerists, were made at the outer end of this
jigger-yard, A boy appeared on the taffrail, and he was evidently
clearing the ensign-halyards for that purpose. In half a minute,
however, he disappeared; then a flag rose steadily, and by a continued
pull, to its station. At first the bunting hung suspended in a line, so
as to evade all examination; but, as if everything on board this light
craft were on a scale as airy and buoyant as herself, the folds soon
expanded, showing a white field, traversed at right angles with a red
cross, and having a union of the same tint in its upper and
inner corner.

"_Inglese_!" exclaimed 'Maso, infinitely aided in this conjecture by the
sight of the stranger's ensign--"Si, Signore; it is an Englishman; I
_thought_ so, from the first, but as the lugger is not a common rig for
vessels of that nation, I did not like to risk anything by saying it."

"Well, honest Tommaso, it is a happiness to have a mariner as skilful as
yourself, in these troublesome times, at one's elbow! I do not know how
else we should ever have found out the stranger's country. An Inglese!
Corpo di Bacco! Who would have thought that a nation so maritime, and
which lies so far off, would send so small a craft this vast distance!
Why, Ghita, it is a voyage from Elba to Livorno, and yet, I dare say
England is twenty times further."

"Signore, I know little of England, but I have heard that it lies
beyond our own sea. This is the flag of the country, however; for _that_
have I often beheld. Many ships of that nation come upon the coast,
further south."

"Yes, it is a great country for mariners; though they tell me it has