“I remember you, Master Matteo,” Pisani said, as he shook him by the hand.  “I have seen you often at your father’s house.  I shall have to give him a good account of you, for I saw you fighting bravely.

“But we will talk more of this afterwards.  We must set to work to separate the galleys, or we shall have them grinding each other to pieces.  Then we must hasten to the assistance of our friends.”

The Genoese prisoners were all fastened below, and the Venetians then set to work to cut the lashings and free the rigging of the ships.  Francis kept only twenty men on board the Bonito.  The remainder were distributed between the two captured Genoese galleys, and the admiral turned his attention to the battle.

But it was already almost over.  The sight of the Venetian flag, at the mastheads of the admiral’s ship and the other galley, struck dismay into the Genoese.  Five of their ships immediately hoisted all canvas and made off, while the other two, surrounded by the Venetian galleys, hauled down their flags.

The battle had been a sanguinary one, and but eight hundred men were found alive on board the four galleys captured.  The fight is known in history as the battle of Porto d’Anzo.  The struggle had lasted nearly the whole day, and it was growing dark when the Venetian fleet, with their prizes, anchored under shelter of the land.

All night long the work of attending upon the wounded went on, and it was daybreak before the wearied crews lay down for repose.  In the afternoon, Pisani hoisted a signal for the captains of the galleys to come on board; and in their presence he formally thanked Francis, in the name of the republic, for the aid he had afforded him at the most critical moment.  Had it not been for that aid, he acknowledged that he and his crew must have succumbed, and the victory would assuredly have fallen to the Genoese.

After the meeting was over he took Francis into his cabin, and again offered him a post in his own ship.

“Were your merit properly rewarded,” he said, “I would appoint you at once to the command of a galley; but to do so would do you no service, for it would excite against you the jealousy of all the young nobles in the fleet.  Besides, you are so young, that although the council at home cannot but acknowledge the vastness of the service you have rendered, they might make your age an excuse for refusing to confirm the appointment; but if you like to come as my third officer, I can promise you that you shall have rapid promotion, and speedily be in command of a galley.  We Venetians have no prejudice against foreigners.  They hold very high commands, and, indeed, our armies in the field are frequently commanded by foreign captains.”

Francis thanked the admiral heartily for his offer, but said that his father’s wishes, and his own, led him to adopt the life of a merchant, and that, under the patronage of Messer Polani, his prospects were so good that he would not exchange them, even for a command under the state of Venice.