"I know that, as well as you do yourself, Captain Rule," answered the other, biting off at least two inches from half a yard of pig-tail; "and, what's more, I know that I fight with a rope round my neck. The spiteful devils will hardly overlook all that's passed; and though it will be dead ag'in all law, they'll work out their eends on us both, if we don't work out our eends on them. To my mind, the last will be the most agreeable, as well as the most just."
"Bon!--Do not throw away your shot, Etooelle."
"I--why, Captain Rule, I'm nat'rally economical. That would be wasteful, and waste I set down for a sin. The only place I calculate on throwing the shot, is into the face and eyes of the English. For my part, I wish Nelson himself was in one of them boats--I wish the man no harm; but I do wish he was in one of them very boats."
"And, Etooelle, I do not. It is bad enough as it is, entre nous; and Nelson is very welcome to stay on board his Foudroyant; voilà!--The enemy is in council; we shall soon hear from them. Adieu, mon ami; remember our two Républiques!"
Raoul squeezed Ithuel's hand, and entered his boat. The distance to the ruin was trifling, but it was necessary to make a small circuit in order to reach it. While doing this, the young mariner discovered a boat pulling from the direction of the marinella, at the foot of the Scaricatojo, which had got so near, unseen, as at first to startle him by its proximity. A second look, however, satisfied him that no cause of apprehension existed in that quarter. His eye could not be deceived. The boat contained Ghita and her uncle; the latter rowing, and the former seated in the stern, with her head bowed to her knees, apparently in tears. Raoul was alone, sculling the light yawl with a single hand, and he exerted himself to meet these unexpected and, in the circumstances, unwelcome visitors, as far as possible from the rocks. Presently the two boats lay side by side.
"What means this, Ghita!" the young man exclaimed; "do you not see the English, yonder, at this moment making their preparations to attack us? In a few minutes we shall be in the midst of a battle, and thou here!"
"I see it all, now, Raoul," was the answer, "though we did not on quitting the shore; but we would not turn back, having once come upon the Bay. I was the first in St. Agata to discover the evil that had befallen thee; from that moment I have never ceased to entreat my uncle, until he has consented to come hither."
"With what motive, Ghita?" asked Raoul, with sparkling eyes--"at length thou relentest--wilt become my wife! In my adversity, thou rememberest thou art a woman!"
"Not exactly that, dear Raoul; but I cannot desert thee, altogether, in this strait. The same objection exists now, I fear, that has ever existed to our union; but that is no reason I should not aid thee. We have many friends along the heights, here, who will consent to conceal thee; and I have come to carry thee and the American to the shore, until an opportunity offer to get thee to thine own France."
"What! desert ces braves, Ghita, at a moment like this!--Not to possess thy hand, dearest girl, could I be guilty of an act so base."