med, as if relieved from a burden, and the young
pirate repeated "Hanno" as if the name was the watchword of the night.

Her own name, uttered in a tone of intense yearning, followed. Not
another syllable accompanied it, but the expression with which it fell
upon her ear revealed so plainly what the young pirate felt for and
expected from her that, in spite of the darkness which concealed her,
she felt her face flush.

Then he tried to clasp her hand, and she dared not withdraw it from the
man whom she had chosen for her tool. So she unresistingly permitted him
to hold her right hand while he whispered his desire to take the place
of the fallen Abus and make her his wife.

Ledscha, in hurried, embarrassed tones, answered that she appreciated
the honour of his suit, but before she gave full consent she must
discuss an important matter with him.

Then Hanno begged her to go out on the water.

His father and his brother Labaja were sitting in the house by the
fire with his grandmother. They had learned, in following the trade of
piracy, to hide the glimmer of lights. The old people had approved his
choice, but the conversation in the dwelling would soon be over, and
then the opportunity of seeing each other alone would be at an end.

Without uttering a word in reply, Ledscha stepped back into the boat,
but Hanno plied the oars with the utmost caution and guided the skiff
without the slightest sound away from the island to an open part of the
water far distant from any shore.

Here he took in the oars and asked her to speak. They had no cause to
fear being overheard, for the surrounding mists merely subdued the
light of the full moon, and no other boat could have approached them
unobserved.

The few night birds, sweeping swiftly on their strong pinions from one
island to another, flew past them like flitting shadows. One hawk only,
in search of nocturnal booty, circled around the motionless skiff, and
sometimes, with expanded wings, swooped down close to the couple who
were talking together so eagerly; but both spoke so low that it would
have been impossible, even for the bird's keen hearing, to follow the
course of their consultation. Merely a few louder words and exclamations
reached the height where it hovered.

The young pirate himself was obliged to listen with the most strained
attention while Ledscha, in low whispers, accused the Greek sculptor of
having basely wronged and deceived her; but the curse with w