t was an excellent precaution, Francisco. Why, you are as prudent and
thoughtful as you are courageous!"

"It was not likely to be of much use, sir," Francis said modestly. "I
was very much more likely to get a stab in the back than to be carried
off. Still, it was just possible that Mocenigo might himself like to
see his vengeance carried out, and it was therefore worth my while
guarding against it. But, as you see, it will be necessary for me to be
back sometime before morning."

"At any rate, Francisco, you had better wait here until morning breaks.
Your room is not likely to be entered for some hours after that; so
while I am preparing for our expedition, you can go out and make your
way to the Grand Canal, hail an early gondola, and be put down at your
own steps, when, as you have told me, you can enter the house without
disturbing anyone. Then you can remove that paper, and return here in
the gondola. We will start at seven. There will be plenty of boats
about by that time, and the lagoon will be dotted by the fishermen's
craft, so that our gondolas will attract no attention."

"Perhaps that will be the best plan, signor; and, indeed, I should not
be sorry for a few hours' sleep, for Giuseppi and I have been in our
boat since a very early hour in the morning, and were pretty well tired
out before this last adventure began."

Chapter 6: The Hut On San Nicolo.

At seven o'clock all was in readiness for a start. Signor Polani set
out alone in his gondola, and picked up Francis, and four men, at a
secluded spot some distance from the house. A messenger had been sent,
two hours before, to the captain of one of the merchant ships lying in
the port. He at once put ten men into a large boat, and rowed down to
within half a mile of the island. Here a grapnel was thrown overboard,
most of the men lay down in the bottom, and the captain, according to
his instructions, kept a sharp lookout to see that no boat left San
Nicolo--his instructions being to overhaul any boat coming out, and to
see that no one was concealed on board it.

There he remained until Polani's gondola rowed past him. After it had
gone a few hundred yards, the grapnel was got up, the men took to their
oars and followed the gondola, keeping so far behind that it would not
seem there was any connection between them.

Francis made for the narrow channel which separated San Nicolo from the
next island, and then directed the gondola to be run ashore