Nor was there a moment to spare.  The lugger took the cable that was given her fast enough under the pressure of the current and helped by the breeze; but at first the fire-vessel, already a sheet of flame, her decks having been saturated with tar, seemed disposed to accompany her.  To the delight of all in the lugger, however, the stern of the felucca was presently seen to separate from their own bows; and a sheer having been given to le Feu-Follet, by means of the helm, in a few seconds even her bowsprit and jib had cleared the danger.  The felucca rode stationary, while the lugger dropped astern fathom after fathom until she lay more than a hundred yards distant from the fiery mass.  As a matter of course, while the cable was paid out, the portion to which the lanyard or rope part of the shank-painter was fastened dropped into the water, while the felucca rode by the chain.

These events occupied less than five minutes; and all had been done with a steadiness and promptitude that seemed more like instinct than reason.  Raoul’s voice was not heard, except in the few orders mentioned; and when, by the glaring light which illuminated all in the lugger and the adjacent water to some distance, nearly to the brightness of noonday, he saw Ghita gazing at the spectacle in awed admiration and terror, he went to her, and spoke as if the whole were merely a brilliant spectacle, devised for their amusement.

“Our girandola is second only to that of St. Peter,” he said, smiling.  “’Twas a narrow escape, love; but, thanks to thy God, if thou wilt it shall be so, we have received no harm.”

“And you have been the agent of his goodness, Raoul; I have witnessed all from this spot.  The call to the men brought me on deck; and, oh! how I trembled as I saw you on the flaming mass!”

“It has been cunningly planned on the part of Messieurs les Anglais; but it has signally failed.  That coaster has a cargo of tar and naval stores on board; and, capturing her this evening, they have thought to extinguish our lantern by the brighter and fiercer flame of their own.  But le Feu-Follet will shine again when their fire is dead!”

“Is there, then, no danger that the brulot will yet come down upon us—­she is fearfully near!”

“Not sufficiently so to do us harm; more especially as our sails are damp with dew.  Here she cannot come so long as our cable stands; and as that is under water where she lies, it cannot burn.  In half an hour there will be little of her left, and we will enjoy the bonfire while it lasts.”

And, now the fear of danger was past, it was a sight truly to be enjoyed.  Every anxious and curious face in the lugger was to be seen, under that brilliant light, turned toward the glowing mass as the sunflower follows the great source of heat in his track athwart the heavens; while the spars, sails, guns, and even the smallest object on board the lugger started out of the obscurity of night into the brightness of such