“You will be sorry to hear that bad news has just been received from the mainland.  The state galley sent to fetch Ruggiero Mocenigo has arrived with the news that, on the previous night, a strong party of men who are believed to have come from Padua, fell upon the guard and carried off Ruggiero.  My sailors came up and fought stoutly, but they were overpowered, and several of them were killed; so Ruggiero is again at large.

“This is a great disappointment to me.  Though the villain is not likely to show his face in the Venetian territory again, I shall be anxious until Maria is safely married, and shall lose no time in choosing a husband for her.  Unless I am mistaken, her liking is turned in the direction of Rufino, brother of your friend Matteo Giustiniani, and as I like none better among the suitors for her hand, methinks that by the time you return you will find that they are betrothed.

“And now I hear the sailors are heaving the anchor, and therefore, Messer Hammond, it is time we took to our boats.”

There was a parting embrace between Francis and his father.  Then the merchants descended into their gondolas, and lay waiting alongside until the anchor was up, the great sails shaken out, and the Bonito began to move slowly through the water towards the entrance of the port.  Then, with a final wave of the hand, the gondolas rowed off and Francis turned to look at his surroundings.  The first object that met his eye was Giuseppi, who was standing near him waving his cap to his father.

“Well, Giuseppi, what do you think of this?”

“I don’t know what to think yet, Messer Francisco.  It all seems so big and solid one does not feel as if one was on the water.  It’s more like living in a house.  It does not seem as if anything could move her.”

“You will find the waves can move her about when we get fairly to sea, Giuseppi, and the time will come when you will think our fast gondola was a steady craft in comparison.  How long have you been on board?”

“I came off three hours ago, signor, with the boat that brought the furniture for your cabin.  I have been putting that to rights since.  A supply of the best wine has been sent off, and extra stores of all sorts, so you need not be afraid of being starved on the voyage.”

“I wish he hadn’t sent so much,” Francis said.  “It makes one feel like a milksop.  Whose cabin is it I have got?”

“I believe that it is the cabin usually used by the supercargo, who is in charge of the goods and does the trading, but the men say the captain of this ship has been a great many years in Polani’s employment, and often sails without a supercargo, being able to manage the trading perfectly well by himself.  But the usual cabin is only half the size of yours, and two have been thrown into one to make it light and airy.”

“And where do you sleep, Giuseppi?”

“I am going to sleep in the passage outside your door, Messer Francisco.”