It
is not the first time that I have had the honor to be a prisoner of war,
and that, too, in one of his own ships."
"You are not to suppose that such will be your situation now, Monsieur
Yvard. We arrest you in a totally different character."
"Not as a friend, I trust, Monsieur; for, I protest, I have not the
smallest claim to the character; as witness a short interview off Porto
Ferrajo and an interesting incident at the mouth of the Golo."
"Your taunts maybe spared, sir; fortune favored you then, we allow; but
now we arrest you as a spy."
"Espion!" repeated Raoul, starting; "that is an office I never
contemplated, Monsieur, on coming on board your ship. You will do me the
justice to acknowledge that it was only at your own invitation that I
came on deck. 'Twould be an infamy to pretend differently."
"We will endure the infamy of our acts, Monsieur Yvard. No one accuses
you of having come on board the Proserpine as a spy; but, when an enemy
is found rowing about our fleet, which is anchored in a hostile bay,
and this in a disguise like yours, it most be a very scrupulous
conscience that hesitates to pronounce him a spy and liable to the
punishment of one."
This was so true that the unfortunate young man now felt the exceeding
delicacy of his situation. In coming into the bay he had certainly been
led by no other intention than to find Ghita; and yet he could not but
confess to himself that he should not have hesitated about profiting, in
his public character, by any information incidentally obtained.
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