“Yes, we may as well take him,” he replied to Giuseppi’s question.

“You are in no hurry to get to bed, I suppose?” the man who had hailed them said as the boat drew up against the wall of the canal.

“It does not make much difference to us, if we are well paid, to keep awake,” Giuseppi said.

Upon such occasions he was always the spokesman.

“You know San Nicolo?”

“Yes, I know it,” Giuseppi said; “but it is a long row—­six miles, if it’s a foot.”

“You will have to wait there for an hour or two, but I will give you half a ducat for your night’s work.”

“What do you say, partner?” Giuseppi asked Francis.

“We may as well go,” the lad replied after a moment’s pause.

The row was certainly a long one, but the night was delightful, and the half ducat was a prize for Giuseppi; but what influenced Francis principally in accepting was curiosity.  San Nicolo was a little sandy islet lying quite on the outside of the group of islands.  It was inhabited only by a few fishermen; and Francis wondered that a man, evidently by his voice and manner of address belonging to the upper class, should want to go to such a place as this at this hour of the night.  Certainly no ordinary motives could actuate him.

As the stranger took his place in the boat, Francis saw by the light of the stars that he was masked; but there was nothing very unusual in this, as masks were not unfrequently worn at night by young gallants, when engaged on any frolic in which they wished their identity to be unrecognized.  Still it added to the interest of the trip; and dipping his oar in the water he set out at a slow, steady stroke well within his power.  He adopted this partly in view of the length of the row before them, partly because the idea struck him that it might be as well that their passenger should not suspect that the boat was other than an ordinary gondola.  The passenger, however, was well satisfied with the speed, for they passed two or three other gondolas before issuing from the narrow canals, and starting across the broad stretch of the lagoon.

Not a word was spoken until the gondola neared its destination.  Then the passenger said: 

“You row well.  If you like the job I may employ you again.”

“We are always ready to earn money,” Francis said, speaking in a gruff voice quite unlike his own.

“Very well.  I will let you know, as we return, what night I shall want you again.  I suppose you can keep your mouths shut on occasion, and can go without gossiping to your fellows as to any job on which you are employed?”

“We can do that,” Francis said.  “It’s no matter to us where our customers want to go, if they are willing to pay for it; and as to gossiping, there is a saying, ’A silver gag is the best for keeping the mouth closed.’”

A few minutes later the bow of the gondola ran up on the sandy shore of San Nicolo.  The stranger made his way forward and leapt out, and with the words, “It may be two hours before I am back,” walked rapidly away.