“Why, Messer Francisco,” Giuseppi said when their passenger was well out of hearing, “what on earth possessed you to accept a fare to such a place as this?  Of course, for myself, I am glad enough to earn half a ducat, which will buy me a new jacket with silver buttons for the next festa; but to make such a journey as this was too much, and it will be very late before we are back.  If the padrone knew it he would be very angry.”

“I didn’t do it to enable you to earn half a ducat, Giuseppi, although I am glad enough you should do so; but I did it because it seemed to promise the chance of an adventure.  There must be something in this.  A noble—­for I have no doubt he is one—­would never be coming out to San Nicolo, at this time of night, without some very strong motive.  There can be no rich heiress whom he might want to carry off living here, so that can’t be what he has come for.  I think there must be some secret meeting, for as we came across the lagoon I saw one or two beats in the distance heading in this direction.  Anyhow, I mean to try and find out what it all means.”

“You had better not, sir,” Giuseppi said earnestly.  “If there is any plot on foot we had best not get mixed up in it.  No one is too high or too low to escape the vengeance of the council, if found plotting against the state; and before now gondolas, staved in and empty, have been found drifting on the lagoons, and the men who rowed them have never been heard of again.  Once in the dungeons of Saint Mark it would be of no use to plead that you had entered into the affair simply for the amusement.  The fact that you were not a regular boatman would make the matter all the worse, and the maxim that ‘dead men tell no tales’ is largely acted upon in Venice.

“I think, sir, the best plan will be to row straight back, and leave our fare to find his way home as best he may.”

“I mean to find something out about it if I can, Giuseppi.  A state secret may be dangerous, but it may be valuable.  Anyhow, there can be no great risk in it.  On the water I think we can show our heels to anyone who chases us; and once in Venice, we are absolutely safe, for no one would suspect a gondola of Mr. Hammond, the English merchant, of having any connection with a hired craft with its two gondoliers.”

“That is true enough, sir; but I don’t like it for all that.  However, if you have made up your mind to it, there is nothing more to be said.”

“Very well.  You stay here, and I will go and look round.  You had better get the gondola afloat, and be ready to start at the instant, so that, if I should have to run for it, I can jump on board and be off in a moment.”

Francis made his way quietly up to the little group of huts inhabited by the fishermen, but in none of them could he see any signs of life—­no lights were visible, nor could he hear the murmur of voices.  There were, he knew, other buildings scattered about on the island; but he had only the light of the stars to guide him, and, not knowing anything of the exact position of the houses, he thought it better to return to the boat.