ill find them in any of the old books."

Vito Viti prevailed. The vice-governatore was obliged to leave the arms
behind him, and this, too, without making any great difference in the
result of the day's fighting, inasmuch as the boatmen employed, in
addition to asking a triple price for their time and labor, obstinately
refused to go nearer to the French than half a league. Distant as this
was, however, Raoul, while reconnoitring the enemy with a glass,
detected the presence of the two Elbans. He laughed outright at the
discovery, notwithstanding the many serious reflections that naturally
pressed upon his mind at such a moment.

But this was not the time to indulge in merriment, and the countenance
of our hero almost immediately resumed its look of care. Now that he
felt certain of the manner in which the English intended to assail him,
he had new orders to give to all his subordinates. As has been said, the
principal point was to make the different guns support each other. In
order to do this effectually, it became necessary to spring the lugger's
broadside round more obliquely toward the felucca; which accomplished,
Raoul deemed his arrangements complete.

Then followed the pause which ordinarily prevails between preparation
and the battle. This, in a vessel, is always a period of profound and
solemn stillness. So important to concert, order, and intelligent
obedience, in the narrow compass, and amid the active evolutions of a
ship, does silence become at such moments, that one of the first duties
of discipline is to inculcate its absolute necessity; and a thousand men
shall be seen standing in their batteries, ready to serve the fierce
engines of war, without a sound arising among them all, of sufficient
force to still the washing of the gentlest waves. It is true, the
French were not now strictly arrayed for a naval action; but they
carried into the present conflict the habits and discipline of the
peculiar branch of service to which they belonged.

CHAPTER XXVIII

"His back against a rock he bore,
And firmly placed his foot before;--
'Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I!'"

_Lady of the Lake_.

Our battle will be told with greater clearness, if the reader is
furnished with an outline of its order. As has been more than once
intimated already, Sir Frederick Dashwood had made all his preparations
to commence the assault from the side of th