One of these was given to each of the Italians, while the prisoner took a seat on the gun-tackle of one of the two guns that formed the sides of his apartment.

It was now night, and a mist had gathered over the arch above, winch hid the stars, and rendered it quite dark.

Still, Raoul had neither lamp nor candles; and, though they had been offered him, he declined their use, as he had found stranger eyes occasionally peeping through the openings in the canvas, with the idle curiosity of the vulgar, to ascertain the appearance and employments of one condemned to die.

He had experienced a good deal of annoyance from this feeling the previous night; and the same desire existing to see how a criminal could bear a respite, he determined to pass his evening in obscurity.

There was a lantern or two, however, on the gun-deck, which threw a dim light even beyond the limits of the canvas bulkheads.