of a more
sentimental character; and it is quite impossible to tell what he
would have done or said had not Cazeneau again made his appearance,
on his way back to the forecastle.

He smiled a cold smile as he passed them.

"Charming weather for a _tete-a-tete_, mademoiselle," said he.
"_Parbleu_! Monsieur Motier, I don't wonder you don't make your
vessel go faster. I quite envy you; but at present I must see about
my fellows below here."

With these words he turned away, and descended into the forecastle.
Mimi also turned away, and Claude accompanied her to the stern.

"How old do you suppose he is?" asked Claude, very gravely.

"How old? What a funny question! Why, he must be nearly fifty by this
time."

"Fifty!" exclaimed Claude, in surprise.

"Yes."

"Why, I thought he was about thirty, or thirty-five."

"Well, he certainly doesn't look over forty; but he is a wonderfully
well-kept man. Even on the raft, the ruling passion remained strong
in the very presence of death, and he managed to keep up his youthful
appearance; but I know that he is almost, if not quite, as old as
papa."

"Is it possible?" cried Claude, in amazement.

Mimi turned, and with her face close to Claude's, regarded him with
an anxious look, and spoke in a low, hurried voice:--

"O, be on your guard--beware of him. Even now he is engaged in some
plot against you. I know it by his face. That's what takes him down
there to confer with the seamen. He is not to be trusted. He is all
false--in face, in figure, in mind, and in heart. He knows nothing
about honor, or justice, or mercy. He has been the deadly enemy of
the Montresors, and if he finds out who you are, he will be your
deadly enemy. O, don't smile that way! Don't despise this enemy! Be
careful--be on your guard, I entreat you--_for my sake_!"

These last words were spoken in a hurried whisper, and the next
moment Mimi turned and hastened down into the cabin to her father,
while Claude remained there, thinking over these words. Yet of them
all it was not the warning contained in them that was present in his
memory, but rather the sweet meaning convoyed in those last three
words, and in the tone in which they were uttered--the words _for my
sake_!

Out of his meditations on this theme he was at length aroused by an
exclamation from Zac. Looking up, he saw that worthy close beside
him, intently watching something far away on the horizon, through a
glass.

"I'll be darned if