“So much the better, Corpo di Bacco!  Who ever heard of an army that carries its brains in its head, like a human being?  No, no, Signor Andrea; I have provided myself with a string of beads, which I intend to count over, with aves and paters, while the firing lasts, like a good Catholic.  If you are so hot, and bent on making one in this battle, you may proclaim in a loud voice one of the speeches of the ancient consuls and generals, such as you will 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.