“S’nore, si; your eccellenza says the truth; a good ducat certainly deserves good services.”

“Bene.  Now, tell these signori all you know about that said lugger; where you saw her; when you saw her; and what she was about.  Keep your mind clear and tell us one thing at a time.”

“S’nore, si.  I will keep my mind clear and tell you no more than one thing at a time.  I believe, eccellenza, I am to begin with where I saw her; then I’m to tell you when I saw her; after which you wish to know what she was about.  I believe this is the way you put it, S’nore?”

“Excellently well; answer in that order, and you will make yourself understood.  But first tell me—­do all the natives of Capri speak the same sort of Italian as you do yourself, friend?”

“S’nore, si—­though my mother having been a French woman, they tell me that I have caught a little from her.  We all get something from our mothers, eccellenza; and it’s a pity we could not keep more of it.”

“True, friend; but now for the lugger.  Remember that honorable signori will hear what you say; therefore, for your own credit, speak to the point; and speak nothing but truth, for the love of God.”

“Then, S’nore, first as to where I saw her—­does your eccellenza mean where I was at the time, or where the lugger was?”

“Where the lugger was, fellow.  Dost think Sir Kooffe cares where thou spent thy day!”

“Well, then, eccellenza, the lugger was near the Island of Capri, on the side next the Mediterranean, which you know, S’nore, is on the side opposite to the bay and near, as might be, abreast of the house of Giacomo Alberti—­does your eccellenza know anything of the house I mean?”

“Not I; but tell your story as if I knew all about it.  It is these particulars which give value to a tale.  How far from the nearest land?  Mention that fact, by all means, if you happen to remember.”

“Well, eccellenza, could the distance be measured, now I would think it would prove to be about as far—­not quite, S’nore, but, I say, about—­about as far as from the said Giacomo’s largest fig-tree to the vines of Giovanni, his wife’s cousin.  Si—­I think, just about that distance.”

“And how far may that be, friend?  Be precise, as much may depend on your answers.”

“S’nore, that may be a trifle further than it is from the church to the top of the stairs that lead to Ana Capri.”

“Cospetto!—­Thou wilt earn thy ducat speedily at this rate!  Tell us at once in miles; was the lugger one, two, six, or twenty miles from your island at the time thou speak’st of?”

“Eccellenza, you bid me speak of the time, in the second place; after I had told you of the where, in the first place.  I wish to do whatever will give you pleasure, S’nore.”

“Neighbor Vito Viti,” put in the vice-governatore, “it may be well to remember that this matter is not to be recorded as you would put on file the confessions of a thief; it may be better to let the honest boatman tell his story in his own way.”