"But, my good sir," said Will, speaking very rapidly in his excellent Italian, "I am already engaged to another lady in England. I only understood that serenading was the custom of the country. I was not in the least aware that it constituted an offer of marriage, which I was not in a position to make. However, though I cannot marry your sister, I am perfectly willing to offer you the satisfaction which a gentleman expects; and at four bells--that is, at eight o'clock--till when it is my watch, I shall be at your service. I must trust to you to find a place where we shall not be disturbed." "The Latomia dei Cappucini beside the ancient wheel-well will do excellently, and a carriage shall be waiting at the landing-stage to convey yourself and your seconds at eight o'clock. Will you give me the names of two of your brother officers who may confer with my seconds after you have decided your choice of weapons. It is your choice. I am the challenger, although you anticipated me in expressing your readiness to give me satisfaction." "The sword is the only weapon for gentlemen," says Will, as fine as you please; though he was but eighteen years old and young in the art of fence, while his adversary, being a Sicilian gentleman and nearer thirty, was like to be an expert swordsman. And then, though they had been so mighty civil to each other as to who was the challenger, I heard the Prince whisper to Will as I went down to the ward-room to see who would act for Will--for, mind you, there was not one of them that liked him--I heard him whisper, "_A l'outrance_," and Will replied, with the most contemptuous indifference, "If you wish it." Now Will, being the officer on duty, had no time to waste in talking on what I have just writ down, though he must perforce attend to the Sicilian Prince who was come on board about a matter so serious. All he said to me was--"Tell them I am going to fight this Italian at eight o'clock, and ask if any of them will act for me. There is not one of them upon whom I have any personal claim." It was with some trepidation that I knocked at the door of the ward-room. I knew that most of them were not on terms with him, and had a sinking feeling at my heart that I should have to go back and confess that he had not a friend to serve him in this pinch, in which case the matter would have to remain until the Captain came on board and told off two officers to do it. But when I went in and told my errand, every officer in the room got up and laid his sword on the table. So it fell, of course, to the two seniors present, one of whom was the First Lieutenant, Mr. Galwey; and they spoke in the highest terms of Will; and all present then went on deck.