The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-30

Suddenly a gun was fired. Before the
 smoke drifted past yellow flag ran up
 the mast of the Minerva. The Prince,
 with his arms bound, appeared above the
 hammock cloths. He mounted the grat-
 ing that had been placed over a gun,
 the rope was fastened around his neck,
 the sailors hauled swiftly and Carac-
 cioli was dragged aloft to the end of
 the yard. There he was left hanging
 till dark, after which his body was taken
 out to sea and cast into the deep
 Ghita hid her face and prayed as her
 grandfather struggled his last, and Raoul
 lost no time in pulling away When she
 recovered a little she reproached him for
 running this fresh danger. In reply
 Raoul again begged her to marry him,
 and again she refused, as gently and yet
 as firmly as ever.
 He rowed swiftly and soon reached a lonely part of the harbor, where a fisher
 man sat in his shapely yawl apparently watching him. It was Ithuel Bolt. In a few moments Raoul and his companions
 were in the yawl and the two sturdy men
 began urging her way to the opposite
 side of the harbor, where Ghita and her uncle were to be disembarked.
 They were almost half way across the
 bay when the Proserpine came down un-
 der full sail, bound out. She made a
 sheer towards the small boat. An officer
 hailed, asking who they were. Raoul an-
 swered that he was a fisherman of Ca-
 pri and was ordered aboard. The sail
 ors threw them line. In another mo-
 ment the yawl was dragging astern,
 while Raoul, trusting fearlessy to his garb climbed aboard his enemy. The officer offered him ducat, and
 proceeded to ask him if he had seen anything of the lugger off the harbor. Raoul answered ingenuously, giving
 them a reply that would send the frigate on wild goose chase. All was
 going we'll, and he was enjoying the
 trick immensely, when the tables were ! turned unexpectedly.
 Two men came on deck. As soon as he saw them the Frenchman perceived
 that he was in plight. They were the vice governor and the podesta of Elba,
 whom Capt Suffe had picked up at Naples.
 Thick witted as they were, they could not fail to recognize person
 with such striking features as those of Raoul Ward. The privateer was
 alert and quick to extricate himself
 from unpleasant situations; but this was taken below, prisoner, and a few moments afterward the yawl was
 hauled on deck, with the result that
 Ithuel was recognized and clapped into irons promptly. Ghita and her uncle
 were taken respectfully into a private cabin, and boat was dispatched at once to Nelson with the news.
 The next morning at dawn the Ter psichore frigate and the sloop of war Ringdove came down to where the
 Proserpine lay waiting. They brought orders from Nelson to hold a court for trying Raoul Ward on the charge of
 being a spy and Ithuel Bolt on the
 charge of being a deserter. This court was convened at once.
 Raoul defended himself by explain ing that his errand in the Bay of Ma pleS and among the neet had been not
 to spy but to meet Ghita, who confirmed his testimony with a simple truthful ness that convinced every one of the officers in the courtmartial. They would have been glad to give their enemy his lugger, let him have a start and
 chase him around the Mediterranean,
 rather than to hang him. But the case was plain Besides, privateers were known to be fonder of their own skins than of their shipmates. It was be : lieved that Raoul, confronted with death would be willing to betray the wh ereabouts of Le Feu-Folet, in whfc case his sentence would be commuted by Nelson.
 Therefore after an hours deliberation the court returned with its sentence of | death by hanging at the yardarm of such ship as the commander-in-chief
 might designate after approving the sen- tence
 Bolt was not tried Nelson's orders con-
 corning him left some discretion, and the
 officers of the Proserpine were of the
 class that disliked the practice of press ing Americans. In their hearts they were , convinced that Bolt was an American, and, therefore, unjustly detained. They could not blame him for deserting and
 they certainly did not propose to hang him for t. Therefore CaDtain Cuffe took