“He won’t find it out.  Quick.  Climb up on the window-sill, I’ll lift you down, and in a moment we’ll be out through the little gate in the wall, for I have the key that unlocks it.  We’ve no time to lose.  Don’t you hear the drums and tomtoms in the market-place?  The puppet show is beginning.”

Little Peppo’s conscience told him that he ought not to go, but his anger at what seemed to him an unjust command, caused him to give no heed to its dictation.  “Well, anyway, when Father Somazzo shuts me up for punishment, I’ll have seen the puppet show and the fireworks,” he said, climbing up on the window-sill, and the next moment he was in the garden.  Taking Totu by the hand, he slunk along in the shadow of the wall to the little gate, and soon the two were with the crowd out in the brilliantly lighted street.

Father Somazzo was detained a short time, and when he returned to the classroom was dumbfounded to find his favorite pupil gone.  He went to the window and called “Peppo, Peppo”, but received no answer.  At first he could scarcely believe that the boy, who had always been so obedient, could be guilty of such a grievous breach of discipline; but as calling and searching proved of no avail, at last, with a heavy heart, he had to admit that even good little Peppo had yielded to temptation.

“Lord, deal not harshly with the erring,” sighed the missioner, and then he prayed:  “Let not his disobedience cause him and us too much sorrow, Blessed Virgin.  Take the poor child to thy motherly bosom, and bring him back to us in safety.  Thou knowest we have great hopes for him.”

Father Somazzo could do no more than this, for he could not leave the house alone; and, even if he had been able to do so, his attempts to find the child in the crowds that thronged the streets would have availed nothing.  Hoping that Peppo would join his companions and return with them, the good Father waited, but in vain.  He neither came with the boys, nor later by himself.

On the following morning Father Somazzo received a visit from Mr. Black, the lawyer, whom he had consulted concerning the guardianship of Willy.  He came to report that he believed he had sufficient proof to ask the court to take Willy away from John Brown, and also to cause his imprisonment.  He had through agents sought out the sailors dismissed from the “St. George”, and from them not only learned of the life of John Brown in Dublin, but also of the peculiar circumstances attendant upon his brother’s death at sea.  Mr. Black asked whether he should prosecute, adding:  “Whatever is done, must be done quickly, for I am told that the ‘St. George’ will sail to-morrow morning, or the morning after at the latest, for Australia with three hundred Chinaman on board.”

Father Somazzo signed the necessary papers, then told of little Peppo’s disappearance, and his conjecture that he had been carried off by a Chinaman named Lihoa, who claimed to be a relative.