The French might be intending to land in Cagliari, to windward of which they had been during these four days that he had been to leeward.

With Cagliari, therefore, he must communicate; the Viceroy of Sardinia would know if any landing had been attempted or threatened.

If Sardinia was safe, he would next go or send to Palermo for news, and thence push for the Faro of Messina, where he would cover both that important fortress and the approaches to Naples from either side of Sicily.

"You will believe my anxiety," he wrote to Acton in Palermo, on the 25th.

"I have neither ate, drank, or slept with any comfort since last Sunday" (the 20th).