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niece to be on the water with her uncle, and one who has ever been a father to her."

"Ah, sure enough, vice-governor, this is Carlo Giuntotardi, the uncle, and the man who dwells so much with the saints, even on earth, that he seldom speaks to a sinner. But thou knowest, little Ghita, that one of thy watermen is no less a person than Raoul Yvard, the wickedest corsair who sails out of France, and the pest and persecution of the whole Italian coast? Did the Church condescend to notice such an unbelieving republican it would be to command all its faithful to unite in their prayers for his destruction."

"Raoul Yvard!" repeated Ghita, with sufficient astonishment in her manner to satisfy any reasonable amount of wonder on the part of the other. "Are you certain, Signor Podestà, of the truth of what you say?"

"As certain as the confession of the party himself can make us."

"Confession, Signore!"

"Sì, bella Ghita; confession - your boatman - your man of Capri - your lazzarone, confesses himself to be neither more nor less than the commander of that worker of iniquity, Le Feu

Follet."

"Does Le Feu-Follet do more than other cruisers of the enemy?" but Ghita felt she was becoming indiscreet, and she ceased.

"I do believe, Winchester," said Cufse, "that this is the very girl, and yonder is the very old man, who came into Nelson's cabin to-day with something to say about the poor prince who was executed this afternoon!"

"What could such people have in common with the unfortunate Caraccioli!"

"Sure enough - yet these are the people. The Queen of the fleet - our Lady Admiraless had it all to herself; and what passed between them in Italian I know no more than if it had been in Greek. She never told me, you may rest assured, and, from the look of her eye, I question a good deal if she ever told Nelson."

"I wish to heaven his lordship would cut adrift from his moorings alongside of that craft, Captain Cuffe. I do assure you, Sir, the fleet begins to talk loudly on the subject. Was it any other man there'd be the devil to pay about it; but we can all stand a good deal from Nelson and Bronté."

"Well, well; let every man father his own children: you ought to be quiet, Winchester, for he asked very kindly about your hurt to-day, and would have sent you aboard some knick-knack or other for the stomach; but I told him you were all a-tanto again, and at duty. What between his head, and his arm, and his eye, he has become such a hulk himself that he thinks every wounded man a sort of relation. I should not complain, however, if the small-pox could lay hold of that beauty."

"This has been a bad day's work for England, depend on it, Captain Cuffe !"

"Well, if it has, St. Vincent and the Nile were good days' work; and we'll let one balance the other. Inquire of this young woman, Mr. Griffin, if I had not the pleasure of seeing her to-day on board the Foudroyant?"

The question was put as desired, and Ghita quietly, but unhesitatingly, answered in the affirmative.

"Then ask her to explain how she happened to fall into the company of Raoul Yvard?"

"Signori," said Ghita, naturally, for she had nothing to conceal on this point, "we live on Monte Argentaro, where my uncle is the keeper of the Prince's towers. You know we have much to fear from the barbarians along all that coast; and last season, when the peace with France kept the Inglesi at a distance-I know not how it is, signori, but they say the barbarians are always hardest on the enemies of Inghiltera - but, the past season a boat from a rover had seized upon my uncle and myself, and were carrying us off into captivity, when a Frenchman and his lugger rescued us. From that time we became friends; and our friend has often stopped near our towers to visit us. To-day we found him in a boat by the side of the English admiral's ship; and, as an old acquaintance, he undertook to bring us to the Sorrentine shore, where we are at present staying with my mother's sister."

This was told so naturally as to carry with it the conviction of its truth; and when Griffin had translated it, he did not fail to assure his superior that he would pledge himself for the accuracy of the statement.

"Ay, you young lusss, Griffin, are never backward with your vows for or to pretty girls," answered Cuffe. "The girl does seem honest, however; and, what is more extraordinary for the company she is in, she seems modest, too. Tell her she shall not be harmed, though we cannot deprive ourselves of the pleasure of her company immediately. She shall have the larboard state-room in my cabin until morning, where she and her uncle may live a great deal more comfortably than in one of their out-ofdoor Neapolitan rookeries. Monte Argentaro, ha! That's a bluff just beyond the Roman coast, and it is famously besprinkled with towers - half a dozen of them, at least, within as many miles; and who knows but this Jack-o'-Lantern may be extinguished some fine morning should we fail of laying our hands on now!"

"We can hardly fail of the last, Captain Cuffe, having her commander in our possession."

Orders were then given to dispose of the prisoners, leaving the boat on deck. Raoul was sent below, and put in a canvass stateroom, the arms having been removed, even to the razors, and a sentinel placed at the door. Escape from such a situation was impossible; and as for self-violence, when that point was considered, Cuffe had coolly remarked "Poor devil; hanged he must be, and if he should be his own executioner, it will save us the discomfort of having a scene on board. I suppose Nelson will order him to our fore-yard-arm as a jewel-block. I don't see why he cannot use a Neapolitan frigate for this job, too; they are good for nothing else."

"I rather think, Captain Cuffe, he will swing on board his own lugger should we succeed in catching her," answered the lieutenant.

"By George, you're right, Griffin, and that's another inducement for looking out sharp for the Few-Folly. How much better it would have been had we burnt them all in a bunch off the Golo!"

Then followed the arrangement by which the prisoner was put into the gun-room, as mentioned. Ghita and her uncle were shown into the empty cabin state-room, and mattresses were provided on which they might repose. Then the captain and his two guests retired to the after-cabin, whither Griffin was invited to accompany them. Here the captain recollected that there had been a fourth individual in the boat, and he sent an order on deck for him to come down for examination. Ithuel observing the attention of the officers occupied by Ghita and her uncle, had stolen back towards his own yawl, of which he had taken possession, stretching himself out at length, with the apparent design to sleep, but, in reality, to keep himself "out of mind" by "remaining out of sight;" reserving, in petto, an intention to jump overboard, should the ship go near enough to the land to give him a chance for his life, after the moon set. In this situation he was found, aroused from his lair, and led into the cabin.

It has been mentioned that Ithuel would not consent to trust himself near the Proserpine, without disguising his person. Raoul being well provided with all the materials for a masquerade, this had been effected by putting a black curling wig over his own lank sandy hair, colouring his whiskers and eye-brows, and trusting the remainder to the transformation which might be produced by the dress, or rather undress, of a Neapolitan waterman. The greatest obstacle to this arrangement had been a certain queue, which Ithuel habitually wore in a cured eel-skin which he had brought with him from America eight years before, and both of which, "queue and eel-skin," he cherished as relics of better days. Once a week this queue was unbound and combed; but all the remainder of its existence it continued in a solid mass full two feet in length, being as hard and about as thick as a rope an inch in diameter. Now the queue had undergone its hebdomadal combing just an hour before Raoul announced his intention to proceed to Naples in the yawl, and it would have been innovating on the only thing that Ithuel treated with reverence, to undo the work until another week had completed its round. The queue, therefore, was disposed of under the wig, in the best manner that its shape and solidity would allow.

Ithuel was left in the fore-cabin, and his presence was announced to Cuffe.

The Jack O'Lantern.

16

"It's no doubt some poor devil belonging to the Few-Folly's crew," observed the English captain, in a rather compassionate manner, "and we can hardly think of stringing him up most probably for obeying an order. That would never do, Griffin; so we 'll just step out and overhaul his log in French, and send him off to England to a prison-ship by the first return vessel."

As this was said the four in the after-cabin left it together, and stood before this new prisoner. Of course Ithuel understood all that was said in English, while the very idea of being catechised in French threw him into a cold sweat. In this strait the idea suddenly crossed his mind that his greatest security would be in feigning dumbness.

"Ecoutez, mon ami,” commenced Griffin, in very respectable English-French, "you are to tell me nothing but the truth, and it may be all the better for you. You belong to the Feu-Follet of course?"

Ithuel shook his head in strong disgust, and endeavoured to make a sound which he intended to represent a dumb man struggling to utter the word "Napoli."

"What is the fellow after, Griffin?" said Cuffe. "Can it be he doesn't understand French! Try him a touch in Italian, and let us see what he will say to that."

Griffin repeated very much what he had said before, merely changing the language, and received the same gagging sounds for an answer. The gentlemen looked at each other, expressive of their surprise. But unluckily for Ithuel's plan, he had brought with him from the Granite State a certain propensity to pass all the modulations of his voice through his nose; and the effort to make a suppressed sound brought that member more than usually into requisition, thereby producing a certain disagreeable combination which destroyed everything like music that commonly characterizes the Italian words. Now, Andrea had been struck with this peculiarity about the tones of the American's voice in the interview at Benedetta's wine-house; and the whole connexion between Raoul and this singular person being associated in his mind, the truth flashed on him, as it might be, at a glance. His previous success that night had emboldened the worthy vice-governor; and, without

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