The Italian knight at once undertook the mission, and started for the shore.  Fosco, who had been chosen principally because he was light of frame, as well as very shrewd and intelligent, was then called up, and his mission explained to him.  He was delighted at having been selected.  Gervaise took him down to the cabin, and they consulted the maps with which the galley was furnished.

“You will row on to Muravera; it is some twenty miles from here.  You see, the village lies at the mouth of a river.  As soon as you arrive there, you will land and find out whether there is any report of Moorish pirates having been seen along the coast.  We shall be there this evening, and you will come on board and report.  Next day you will get to Lunasei, which is about five miles on this side of Cape Bellavista, and they will certainly know there if the pirates are lying behind the cape.  If they are so, you will row back to meet us; if they are not, you will remain there until we come up in the evening.  Remember that, should you on either day be seen and chased, and you find they are overtaking you, you will make for the shore, land, and conceal yourselves.  We shall keep along near the coast, and as we pass you can come down to the water’s edge and signal to us to take you off.  Now you had better disguise yourself, so as to be in readiness to start as soon as da Vinci comes off with the men.  You will only need to take a small stock of provisions, as each night you can replenish them here.”

An hour later da Vinci came off with two stalwart young fishermen.  The little boat had already been painted, and it was lowered at once; Fosco stepped into it, and started.

Two hours later the prizes got up sail, and, accompanied by the galley, coasted quietly along the shore, arriving, late in the afternoon, at Muravera.  Fosco at once came on board.

“There is no news here beyond that which we gained this morning, Sir Gervaise,” he said.  “Strange ships have certainly been seen sailing north, but they did not approach the coast.”

A similar report was given at Lunasei; there were certainly no corsairs lying behind Cape Bellavista, or news would assuredly have reached the village.  At Orosei, next day, the report was the same; there were no strange ships at Cape Comino.  They had been warned overnight that the coast beyond the cape was so precipitous, that there would be no villages at which to make inquiries, and arranged with Fosco that the ships should anchor north of the cape, and that he should go on at once to inspect the next bay.  If he found ships there, he was to return at once; if not, he was, at daybreak, to land at one of the villages in the bay, and to make inquiries.

No news was brought in by him during the night.

“It is evident the pirates are not in the bay, Gervaise,” Ralph said, as they came on deck at daybreak.