What has he to say now?"
Griffin led his captain a little aside and conferred a moment with him
alone. Orders were then passed to the officer of the watch, when Cuffe
and his companions went below like men in a hurry.
Chapter XVI.
"What countryman, I pray?"
"Of Mantua."
"Of Mantua, Sir?--marry, God forbid
And come to Papua, careless of your life?"
_Taming of the Shrew_.
During the momentous five minutes occupied in these private movements,
Raoul affected to be gaping about in vulgar astonishment, examining the
guns, rigging, ornaments of the quarter-deck, etc.; though, in truth,
nothing that passed among those near him escaped his vigilant attention.
He was uneasy at the signs of the times, and now regretted his own
temerity; but still he thought his incognito must be impenetrable. Like
most persons who fancy they speak a foreign language well, he was
ignorant, too, in how many little things he betrayed himself; the
Englishman, _cateris paribus,_ usually pronouncing the Italian better
than the Frenchman, on account of the greater affinity between his
native language and that of Italy, in what relates to emphasis and
sounds. Such was the state of mind of our hero then, as he got an
intimation that the captain of the ship wished to see him below. Raoul
observed as he descended the ladder, to comply with what sounded very
much like an order, that he was followed by the two Elban functionaries.
The cabin-lamp was trimmed, and the privateersman found himself under a
strong light as soon as he had crossed the threshold of the apartment.
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