heir enemy,
it is true, and he had been sincerely detested by all hands,
eight-and-forty hours before; but circumstances had entirely changed the
ancient animosity into a more generous and manly sentiment. In the first
place, a successful and a triumphant enemy was an object very different
from a man in their own power, and who lay entirely at their mercy. Then
the personal appearance of the young privateersman was unusually
attractive, and altogether different from what it had been previously
represented, and that, too, by an active rivalry that was not altogether
free from bitterness. But chiefly was the generous sentiment awakened by
the conviction that the master-passion, and none of the usual
inducements of a spy, had brought their enemy into this strait; and
though clearly guilty in a technical point of view, that be was
influenced by no pitiful wages, even allowing that he blended with the
pursuit of his love some of the motives of his ordinary warfare. All
these considerations, coupled with the reluctance that seamen ever feel
to having an execution in their ship, had entirely turned the tables;
and there, where Raoul would have found so lately between two and three
hundred active and formidable enemies, he might almost be said now to
have as many sympathizing friends.

No wonder, then, that the preparations of the foretop-men were regarded
with unfavorable eyes. The unseen hand of authority, nevertheless, held
all in restraint. Cuffe himself did not dare to hesitate any longer. The
necessary orders were given, though with deep reluctance, and then the
captain went below, as if to hide himself from human eyes.

The ten minutes that succeeded were minutes of intense concern. All
hands were called, the preparations had been completed, and Winchester
waited only for the reappearance of Cuffe, to issue the order to have
the prisoner placed on the grating. A midshipman was sent into the
cabin, after which the commanding officer came slowly, and with a
lingering step, upon the quarter-deck. The crew was assembled on the
forecastle and in the waists; the marine guard was under arms; the
officers clustered around the capstan; and a solemn, uneasy expectation
pervaded the whole ship. The lightest footfall was audible. Andrea and
his friend stood apart, near the taffrail, but no one saw Carlo
Giuntotardi or his niece.

"There is yet some five-and-twenty minutes of sun, I should think, Mr.
Winchester," observed Cuffe, f