into despondency, and had pursued his career successfully and with spirit; while the other unsupported, and failing of any immediate opportunity for getting ahead, had fallen into evil ways, and come to be, by slow degrees, the man he was.  Such instances as the latter are of not unfrequent occurrence even in a marine in which promotion is as regular as our own, though it is rare indeed that a man recovers his lost ground when placed in circumstances so trying.

In half an hour Clinch was ready, dressed in his best.  The gentlemen of the quarter-deck saw all these preparations with surprise; for, of late, the master’s-mate had seldom been seen in that part of the ship at all.  But, in a man-of-war, discipline is a matter of faith, and no one presumed to ask questions.  Clinch was closeted with the captain for a few minutes, received his orders, and went over the ship’s side with a cheerful countenance, actually entering the captain’s gig, the fastest-rowing boat of the ship.  As soon as seated, he shoved off, and held his way toward the point of Campanella, then distant about three leagues.  No one knew whither he was bound, though all believed it was on duty that related to the lugger, and duty that required a seaman’s judgment.  As for Cuffe, his manner, which-had begun to be uneasy and wandering, became more composed when he saw his old messmate fairly off, and that, too, at a rate which would carry him even to Naples in the course of a few hours, should his voyage happen to be so long.

CHAPTER XXI.

                    “His honor’s linked
     Unto his life; he that will seek the one
     Must venture for the other, or lose both.”

     TATHAM.

It was now certain that le Feu-Follet was not in the Bay of Salerno.  By means of the lofty spars of the ship, and the aid of glasses, the whole coast had been effectually surveyed, and no signs of such a craft were visible.  Even Lyon had given it up, had wore round, and was standing along the land again, toward Campanella, a disappointed man.  As Cuffe expected the next wind from the westward, he continued on to the northward, however, intending to go off Amalfi and question any fisherman he might fall in with.  Leaving the ship slowly pursuing her course in that direction, then, we will turn our attention to the state of the prisoners.

Ghita and her uncle had been properly cared for all this time.  The gunner’s wife lived on board, and, being a respectable woman, Cuffe had the delicacy to send the poor girl forward to the state-room and mess of this woman.  Her uncle was provided for near by, and, as neither was considered in any degree criminal, it was the intention to put them ashore as soon as it was certain that no information concerning the lugger was to be obtained from them.  Ithuel was at duty again, having passed half the morning in the fore-top.  The shore-boat, which was in