Between Raoul and
Ghita there had been no reserves on the subject of parentage, and the
former understood why his mistress was here, as well as the motive that
brought her. As for the last, she glanced timidly around her, fearful
that the lugger, too, had been brought into the throng of ships that
crowded the 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.
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