“I will arrange it so, Francisco.  It would be for the benefit of my cousin—­who is a good lad, but harebrained, and without ballast—­for you to go with him.  I should indeed have proposed it, but the vessel in which I have decided he shall sail will be ready for sea in another ten days or so, and I thought that you would prefer a longer stay in Venice before you again set sail.  If, however, it is your wish to be off again so soon, I will arrange for you both to sail together.

“This time you will go officially as my supercargo, since you now understand the duties.  The captain of the vessel in which you will sail is a good sailor and a brave man, but he has no aptitude for trade, and I must have sent a supercargo with him.  Your decision to go relieves me of this, for which I am not sorry, for men who are at once good supercargos, and honest men, are difficult to get.”

The fortnight passed rapidly, and Francis enjoyed his stay at the merchant’s greatly, but he was not sorry when, at the end of ten days, Polani told him that the lading of the vessel would begin the next day, and that he had best go on board early and see the cargo shipped, so that he might check off the bales and casks as they were sent on board, and see where each description of goods was stowed away.

“I think, papa, it is too bad of you, sending Francisco away so soon,” Maria said, when at their evening meal she learned the news of his early departure.

“It is his own doing,” her father said.  “It is he who wants to go, not I who send him.  I consider that it is entirely your fault.”

“Our fault!” the two girls repeated in surprise.

“Certainly.  If you had made Venice sufficiently pleasant to him, he would not wish to leave.  I am too busy to see about such things, and I left it to you to entertain him.  As he is in such a hurry to get away again, it is evident that you have not succeeded in doing so.”

“Indeed, Signor Polani, your daughters have been everything that is kind, but I have no taste for assemblies and entertainments.  I feel out of place there, amid all the gaily dressed nobles and ladies, and no sooner do I get there, than I begin to wonder how anyone can prefer the heated rooms, and clatter of tongues, to the quiet pleasure of a walk backwards and forwards on the deck of a good ship.  Besides, I want to learn my profession, and there is so much to learn in it that I feel I have no time to lose.”

“I am right glad to see your eagerness in that direction, Francisco, and I did but jest with my daughters.  You have not yet asked me what is the destination of the Lido, for that is the name of your new vessel.  This time you are going quite in a new direction.  In the spring we are certain to have war with Genoa, and as Parma and Hungary will probably both take side against us, we may find ourselves cut off from the mainland, and, in case of a disaster happening to our fleet, in sore straits for food.  I am, therefore, going to gather into my warehouses as much grain as they will hold.  This will both be a benefit to the state, and will bring me good profit, for the price of wheat will be high in the city if we are leaguered on the land side.