old the merchant how he had, one evening, taken a man out to
San Nicolo, and had discovered that a hut in that island was used as a
meeting place by various persons, among whom was Ruggiero Mocenigo.

"I might have thought of the place before, signor; but, in fact, it
never entered my mind. From the first, we considered it so certain that
the men who carried off your daughters would take them to some hiding
place where Mocenigo could speedily join them, that San Nicolo never
entered my mind. I own that it was very stupid, for it seems now to me
that the natural thing for them to do, would be to take them in the
very opposite direction to that in which the search for them would be
made."

The story had been frequently interrupted by exclamations of surprise
by Polani. At its conclusion, he laid his hand on Francis' shoulder.

"My dear boy," he said, "How can I thank you! You seem to me to be born
to be the preserver of my daughters. I cannot doubt that your suspicion
is correct, and that they are confined in this hut at San Nicolo. How
fortunate that you did not denounce this conspiracy--for conspiracy no
doubt it is--that you discovered, for, had you done so, some other
place would have been selected for the girls' prison."

"I would not be too sanguine, sir. The girls may not be in this hut,
still we may come on some clue there which may lead us to them. If not,
we will search the islands on that side as closely as we have done
those on the mainland."

"Now, shall I send for the gondoliers and set out at once? There are
ten or twelve men in the house, and it is hardly likely that they will
place a guard over them of anything like this strength, as of course
they will be anxious to avoid observation by the islanders."

"I do not think I would do anything tonight, sir," Francis said. "The
gondola that chased us will be on the alert. They cannot, of course,
suspect in the slightest that we have any clue to the hiding place of
your daughters. Still, they might think that, if we were really
pursuing the other gondola, and had recognized the woman Castaldi, we
might bring the news to you, and that a stir might be made. They may
therefore be watching to see if anything comes of it; and if they saw a
bustle and gondolas setting out taking the direction of the island,
they might set off and get there first, for it is a very fast craft,
and remove your daughters before we reach the hut.

"I should say wait till morning. T