“But how can that be,” Polani said, “when you have returned in her?  For she was signalled as approaching the port hours ago.  You could hardly have persuaded the Genoese by fair words to release a prize that they had once taken.

“Eh, captain?”

“No, that is not the Genoese way, nor ours either,” the captain said.  “We did better than that, signor.  We recaptured her, and carried her off from under their noses.”

“You are joking,” Polani said, “for they signalled the Lido as returning laden, and a laden ship could never get away from state galleys, however long her start.  A fat pig might as soon try to escape from a hunting dog.”

“That is so, Messer Polani, and we did not trust to our speed.  We tricked them famously, sir.  At least, when I say we did, Messer Francisco here did, for the credit is due solely to him.  If it had not been for this young gentleman, I and the crew would now have been camping out in the forests of Sicily, without the slightest prospect of being able to make our way home, and the Lido would now be moored in the port of Genoa.”

“That is so, Cousin Polani,” Matteo said.  “It is to Francisco that we owe our escape, and you owe the safety of the Lido and her cargo.”

“It was just a happy idea that occurred to me,” Francis said, “as it would assuredly have occurred to Captain Pesoro, if he had been with us, or to anyone else, and after I had first suggested it the captain carried out all the arrangements.”

“Not at all, Messer Francisco,” the captain said obstinately.  “I had no part or hand in the business, beyond doing what you suggested, and you would have got the Lido off just as well if I hadn’t been there.”

“Well, I will judge for myself when I hear,” Polani said.  “But, as it must be an interesting story, my daughters would like to hear it also.  So, come into the next room and tell the tale, and I will order up a flagon of Cyprus wine to moisten your throats.”

“First of all,” the captain began, after the girls had greeted Francis, and all had taken their seats, “I must tell how the Lido was captured.”

And he then related how the Genoese fleet had suddenly appeared before them, and how, seeing the impossibility of escape, he had sent all on shore with the exception of four sailors, and how he had, with them, been released and sent on shore.

“That’s the Genoese all over,” Polani said.  “If they could have sent forty prisoners home they would have done so; but the fact that there were only five on board, when they took the vessel, would seem to them to detract from the credit of the capture.”

The captain then told how, fearing that the people of Girgenti might give them all up to the Genoese, or that fights might ensue among the Genoese sailors who landed, he had marched the crew away out of the town.

“Now, captain,” Matteo broke in, “I will tell the next bit, because I was with Francis when he found a hiding place.”