In a word, Raoul understood Cuffe as little as Cuffe understood him;
facts that will sufficiently appear in the interview which it has now
become our office to relate.
The prisoner received one or two friendly visits in the course of the
morning; Griffin, in particular, conceiving it to be his duty to try to
cheer the condemned man, on account of his own knowledge of foreign
tongues. On these occasions the conversation was prevented from falling
into anything like the sombre, by the firmness of the prisoner's manner.
With a view to do the thing handsomely, Winchester had caused the canvas
bulkhead to include the guns on each side, which of course gave more air
and light within the narrow apartment, as it brought both ports into the
little room. Raoul adverted to this circumstance as, seated on one
stool, he invited Griffin, in the last of his visits, to take another.
"You find me here, supported by a piece of eighteen on each side,"
observed the prisoner, smiling, "as becomes a seaman who is about to
die. Were my death to come from the mouths of your cannon, Monsieur
Lieutenant, it would only meet me a few months, or perhaps a few days,
sooner than it might happen by the same mode in the ordinary course
of events."
"We know how to feel for a brave man in your situation." answered
Griffin, with emotion; and nothing would make us all happier than to
have it as you say; you in a good warm frigate, on our broadside, and we
in this of our own, contending fairly for the honor of our respective
countries.
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