anchorage. For this, however, Raoul was much too wary,
nothing resembling his little craft being visible.

The reader will have understood that many vessels of war, English,
Russian, Turkish, and Neapolitan, were now anchored in the bay. As the
French still held the castle of St. Elmo, or the citadel that crowns the
heights, that in their turn crown the town, the shipping did not lie
quite as close to the mole as usual, lest a shot from the enemy above
might do them injury; but they were sufficiently near to permit all the
idle and curious of Naples, who had the hearts and the means, to pull
off and become spectators of the sad scene that was about to occur. As
the hour drew near, boat after boat arrived, until the Minerva was
surrounded with spectators, many of whom belonged even to the higher
classes of society.

The distance between the Neapolitan frigate and the ship of the English
rear-admiral was not great; and everything that occurred on board the
former, and which was not actually hidden by the sides and bulwarks of
the vessel itself, was easily to be seen from the decks of the latter.
Still the Foudroyant lay a little without the circle of boats; and in
that direction Raoul had pulled to avoid the throng, resting on his oars
when about a third of a cable's length from the British admiral's stern.
Here it was determined to wait for the awful signal and its fatal
consequences. The brief interval was passed by Ghita in telling her
beads, while Carlo joined in the prayers with the devotion of a zealot.
It is scarcely necessary to say that all this Raoul witnessed without
faith, though it would be doing injustice to his nature, as well as to
his love for Ghita, to say he did so without sympathy.

A solemn and expecting silence reigned in all the neighboring ships. The
afternoon was calm and sultry, the zephyr ceasing to blow earlier than
common, as if unwilling to disturb the melancholy scene with its
murmurs. On board the Minerva no sign of life--scarcely of death--- was
seen; though a single whip was visible, rigged to the fore-yard arm,
one end being led in-board, while the other ran along the yard, passed
through a leading block in its quarter, and descended to the deck. There
was a platform fitted on two of the guns beneath this expressive but
simple arrangement; but, as it was in-board, it was necessarily
concealed from all but those who were on the Minerva's decks. With these
preparations Raoul was familia