gondolas, might reach him before they
did, and I feel assured that I did so.

"It was nigh midnight when I arrived, but he was still up, and I doubt
not awaiting the arrival of the villains he had employed. My first step
was to set a watch round the house, with the order to arrest any who
might come and inquire for him. No one, however, came.

"The news, indeed, of the sudden arrival of a state galley, at that
hour, had caused some excitement in the place, and his agents might
well have heard of it upon their arrival. I agree with you in thinking
they are not in the town, but this makes the search all the more
difficult. The question is, what ought we to do next?"

"The reward that you have offered will certainly bring you news,
signor, if any, save those absolutely concerned, have observed anything
suspicious; but I should send to all the fishing villages, on the
islets and on the mainland, to publish the news of the reward you have
offered. Beyond that, I do not see that anything can be done; and I,
too, have thought of nothing else since Matteo brought me the news of
their being carried off. It will be of no use, that I can see, going
among the fishermen and questioning them, because, with such a reward
in view, it is certain that anyone who has anything to tell will come,
of his own accord, to do so."

"I know that is the case already, Francisco. The authorities have been
busy all day with the matter, and a score of reports as to closed
gondolas being seen have reached them; but so far nothing has come of
it. Many of these gondolas have been traced to their destinations, but
in no case was there anything to justify suspicion. Happily, as long as
Mocenigo is in confinement, I feel that no actual harm will happen to
the girls; but the villain is as crafty as a fox, and may elude the
vigilance of the officer in charge of him. I am going to the council,
presently, to urge that he should be brought here as a prisoner; but
from what I hear there is little chance of the request being complied
with. His friends are already declaiming on the injustice of a man
being treated as a criminal, when there is no shadow of proof
forthcoming against him; and the disturbances last night have angered
many who have no great friendship for him, but who are indignant at the
attack of the populace upon the house of a noble. So you see that there
is but faint chance that they would bring him hither a prisoner."

"I think, sir, that we