“He did so,” Francis said, “and himself engaged hand-to-hand with Mocenigo, and would probably have killed him, had not his foot slipped on the deck.  I was, of course, by his side, and occupied the villain until a cross bolt pierced his brain.  So there is an end to all your trouble with him.”

“Is he really dead?” Maria said.  “Oh, Francisco, how thankful I am!  He seemed so determined, that I began to think he was sure some day to succeed in carrying me off.  Not that I would ever have become his wife, for I had vowed to kill myself before that came about.  I should have thought he might have known that he could never have forced me to be his wife.”

“I told him the same thing,” Francis said, “and he replied that he was not afraid of that, for that he should have your sister in his power also, and that he should warn you that, if you laid hands on yourself, he should make her his wife instead of you.”

The girls both gave an exclamation of horror.

“I never thought of that,” Maria said; “but he would indeed have disarmed me with such a threat.  It would have been horrible for me to have been the wife of such a man; but I think I could have borne it rather than have consigned Giulia to such a fate.

“Oh, here is father!”

“I have got away sooner than I expected,” Polani said as he entered.  “The governor was good enough to beg me to come on at once to you.  You have heard all the news, I suppose, and know that our enemy will persecute you no more.”

“We have heard, papa, and also that you yourself fought with him, which was very wrong and very rash of you.”

“And did he tell you that had it not been for him I should not be here alive now, girls?”

“No, father.  He said that when you slipped he occupied Ruggiero’s attention until the cross bolt struck him.”

“That is what he did, my dear; but had he not occupied his attention I should have been a dead man.  The thrust was aimed at me as I fell, and would have pierced me had he not sprung forward and turned it aside, and then engaged in single combat with Mocenigo, who, with all his faults, was brave and a skillful swordsman; and yet, as the governor himself said, probably Francisco would have slain him, even had not the combat ended as it did.

“And now we must have his story in full.  I have not heard much about it yet, and you have heard nothing; and I want to know how he managed to get out of the hands of that man, when he had once fallen into them.”

“That is what we want to know, too, father.  We know what a sharp watch was kept upon us, and I am sure they must have been much more severe with him.”

“They were certainly more severe,” Francis said smiling, “for my right hand was chained to my left ankle, and the left hand to to my right ankle—­not tightly, you know, but the chain was so short that I could not stand upright.  But, on the other hand, I do not think my guards were as vigilant as yours.  However, I will tell you the whole story.”