marble steps came into dim view and a tall
figure in silk pajamas, a fur overcoat, and a fez came slowly down into
the light of our lantern I gave up and just waited for things to happen.
Up above I could now descry the chorus which had been creating such an
uproar, a motley collection of male and female retainers in various
stages of undress, and holding a number of alarming looking weapons,
standing in a row looking down at us in astonishment. And I was just
feeling exasperated at being so completely in the dark because I could
not understand a word these people were saying, when the tall bizarre
person in the fur coat and pajamas leaned over and said:

"'I understand you are an Englishman from one of the ships?'

"'Yes,' I said. 'That is so. What is the matter, may I ask?'

"'An attempt,' said he, 'at robbery and perhaps upon my life. You saw a
boat?'

"'Yes,' I said, 'we saw a boat. Was that the man who has been attempting
robbery?'

"'The leader,' said he; 'we have the others,' he looked at his
retainers, who looked down at us in a most theatrical way.

"'Do you know who he was--the leader?' I asked. All this time I was
sitting in the dancing boat while the boatman fended her off with his
long arms.

"'No, I regret not.'

"'I can tell you, if you want to know,' I said. He leaned down to get a
good look at me, looked back over his shoulder, and called in a
reproving voice, upon which one of his minions flew down with a lantern,
and we viewed each other in the glare.

"'I think it will be better if you accept my hospitality,' he said,
studying me thoughtfully. 'My carriage will take you back to your ship.'
He spoke again to my man who replied with grave decorum. I saw him now,
a tall, sunburned fellow with an immense black moustache, a round flat
cap on his black head, and an embroidered coat with innumerable small
buttons and frogs. He held the boat a little nearer in shore and I
stepped on to the sea-worn marble stairway. And without a word, in
accordance with the magical nature of the affair, my romantic boatman,
who had borne me away from my youth and who had proceeded methodically
to bear me onward toward my inevitable destiny, pushed off with an oar
into the fog and was lost.

"And I assure you," insisted Mr. Spenlove in an aggrieved tone, "that I
have the same memory of the scene which followed as one has of a
complicated dream. I am not prepared, at this moment, to go into a court
of law and swe