admiralty, with extraordinary authority relative to such cases Captain
Bramble was now about to lay before them, and who would be only too much
gratified at the bringing before them of an offender to make an example
of him.

Captain Bramble of course offered to Mrs. Huntington and her daughter
his own cabin for their greater comfort, and strove to make their
position as comfortable as possible for them while they were on board;
but he had not the nice sense of honor, that true delicacy of spirit,
which should have led him to remember they were his guests from
necessity, and that to push a suit under such circumstances was not only
indelicate but positively insulting. And yet he did so; true, he did not
actually importune Miss Huntington, but his attentions and services were
all rendered under that guise and aspect which rendered them to her most
repulsive.

Captain Bramble took good care that his prisoner and rival should have
no degree of intercourse with her whom he knew very well Captain Ratlin
loved. Under pretence that he feared his prisoner would attempt to
escape, he kept him under close guard, and did not permit him once upon
deck during the entire trip from the factory of Don Leonardo to the
harbor of Sierra Leone. This chafed the young commander's spirit
somewhat, but yet he was of too true a spirit to sink under oppression;
he was brave and cheerful always. Of course, Miss Huntington saw and
understood all this, and the more heartily despised the English officer
for the part he played in the unmanly business.

Maud kept by herself. She felt miserable, and as is often the case,
realized that the success of her treachery, thus far, which, in her
anticipation, had promised so much, had but still more deeply shadowed