gainst the two best
gondoliers on the canals, in an ordinary boat."

A few evenings later, Francis was returning homewards at about half
past ten, when, in passing along a quiet canal, the boat was hailed
from the shore.

"Shall we take him, Messer Francisco?" Giuseppi asked in a low voice;
for more than once they had late in the evening taken a fare.

Francis rowed, like Giuseppi, in his shirt, and in the darkness they
were often taken for a pair-oared gondola on the lookout for a fare.
Francis had sometimes accepted the offer, because it was an amusement
to see where the passenger wished to go--to guess whether he was a
lover hastening to keep an appointment, a gambler on a visit to some
quiet locality, where high play went on unknown to the authorities, or
simply one who had by some error missed his own gondola, and was
anxious to return home. It made no difference to him which way he
rowed. It was always possible that some adventure was to be met with,
and the fare paid was a not unwelcome addition to Giuseppi's funds.

"Yes, we may as well take him," he replied to Giuseppi's question.

"You are in no hurry to get to bed, I suppose?" the man who had hailed
them said as the boat drew up against the wall of the canal.

"It does not make much difference to us, if we are well paid, to keep
awake," Giuseppi said.

Upon such occasions he was always the spokesman.

"You know San Nicolo?"

"Yes, I know it," Giuseppi said; "but it is a long row--six miles, if
it's a foot."

"You will have to wait there for an hour or two, but I will give you
half a ducat for your night's work."

"What do you say, partner?" Giuseppi asked Francis.

"We may as well go," the lad replied after a moment's pause.

The row was certainly a long one, but the night was delightful, and the
half ducat was a prize for Giuseppi; but what influenced Francis
principally in accepting was curiosity. San Nicolo was a little sandy
islet lying quite on the outside of the group of islands. It was
inhabited only by a few fishermen; and Francis wondered that a man,
evidently by his voice and manner of address belonging to the upper
class, should want to go to such a place as this at this hour of the
night. Certainly no ordinary motives could actuate him.

As the stranger took his place in the boat, Francis saw by the light of
the stars that he was masked; but there was nothing very unusual in
this, as masks were not unfrequently worn at night by yo