“Our search resulted in nothing,” returned Ethan. “But by sheer luck we stumbled upon a most remarkable discovery.”
Then he related the main incident of the night, and Captain Jones listened with the greatest attention.
“Quite remarkable,” commented he, as the lad finished. “But, really, except for the fact that we now know where Siki expects to dispose of the paper, we learned all this from Dr. Franklin’s judgment in the matter. St. Mary’s Isle, eh,” he continued, musingly. “I know the place well; and, who knows, perhaps I may touch there in the Ranger and look into this matter.”
Not having had any definite instructions from Mr. Jefferson about when he should return to America, Ethan had considered that he should remain in France until the paper was recovered or proven to be lost for good and all. He had had no notion of continuing the cruise with Captain Jones, but now that the Ranger and the recovery of the dispatch seemed linked, as it were, he eagerly asked to be allowed to go.
“The chances are,” he reasoned, “that the Lascar will slip through their fingers. If you can land Longsword and me upon St. Mary’s Isle we may be in time to do some good.”
“I shall be most glad to have you,” said the Ranger’s captain. “And somehow it seems to me that a landing at St. Mary’s Isle is going to lead to good of some sort. I sometimes get impressions like that, and they usually point pretty close to facts in the end.”
Three or four days later John Paul Jones, Ethan Carlyle and Longsword once more reached Nantes; and the former immediately set about getting his ship ready for the voyage that was to strike terror to the hearts of the British and fill those of the struggling Americans with delight.
Upon the trip across the Atlantic the prediction that the commander had made to Ethan in Portsmouth harbor had been realized. Many defects and weaknesses were discovered in the Ranger, and these he now set about remedying as far as possible.
The ship’s trim was altered; her ballast was taken out and restowed; her masts were shortened, also, by some feet. No man ever sailed the ocean who knew more about the small details of seamanship than John Paul Jones; after he had been in a vessel a few weeks it was an assured thing that she had come to do all that there was in her. Many a cranky, slow answering tub had been transformed, by his knowledge, into a speedy, amenable ship.
After they had cleared the harbor the Ranger showed marked evidence of improvement in her work.