got his cue, and no witness could have acquitted
himself better than he did from that moment.

"That you have," he answered; "a hundred times at least; and right in
the teeth of my advice."

"Was not my sole object, in coming into the Bay yesterday, to find
Ghita, and Ghita only?"

"Just so. Of that, gentlemen, there can be no more question than there
is about Vesuvius standing up at the head of the Bay, smoking like a
brick-kiln. That _was_ Captain Rule's sole a'r'n'd."

"I just understood ye to say, witness," put in Lyon, "and that only a
bit since, that ye did not know the prisoner's motive in coming into the
Bay of Naples. Ye called his behavior unaccountable."

"Very true, sir, and so it is to _me_. I know'd all along that _love_
was at the bottom of it; but _I_ don't call love a _motive_, while I do
call it _unaccountable_. Love's a feelin' and not a nature. That's the
explanation on't. Yes, I know'd it was _love_ for Miss Gyty, but then
that's not a motive in law."

"Answer to the facts. The court will judge of the motive for itself. How
do you know that love for the young woman you mention was Raoul Yvard's
only object in coming into the Bay?"

"One finds out such things by keeping company with a man. Captain Rule
went first to look for the young woman up on the mountain yonder, where
her aunt lives, and I went with him to talk English if it got to be
necessary; and not finding Gyty at home, we got a boat and followed her
over to Naples. Thus, you see, sir, that I have reason to know what
craft he was in chase of the whole time."

As all this was strictly true, Ithuel related it naturally and in a way
to gain some credit.

"You say you accompanied Raoul Yvard, witness, in a visit to the aunt of
the young woman called Ghita Caraccioli," observed Cuffe, in a careless
way that was intended to entrap Ithuel into an unwary answer--"where
did you go from when you set out on your journey?"

"That would depend on the place one kept his reckoning from and the time
of starting. Now, _I_ might say I started from Ameriky, which part of
the world I left some years since; or I might say from Nantes, the port
in which we fitted for sea. As for Captain Rule, he would probably
say Nantes."

"In what manner did you come from Nantes?" continued Cuffe, without
betraying resentment at an answer that might be deemed impertinent; or
surprise, as if he found it difficult to comprehend. "You did not make
the journey on hor