t the figures of persons
descending the steps and entering the gondola. Then the boat moved out
into the middle of the canal, where a few boats were still passing to
and fro. Francis kept his gondola close by the bank, so as to be in the
deep shade of the houses. The boat they were following again passed
under the Ponto Maggiore, and for some distance followed the line of
the Grand Canal.

"Keep your eye upon it, Giuseppi. It is sure to turn off one way or the
other soon, and if it is too far ahead of us when it does so, then it
may give us the slip altogether."

But the gondola continued its course the whole length of the canal, and
then straight on until, nearly opposite Saint Mark's, it passed close
to a larger gondola, with four rowers, coming slowly in the other
direction; and it seemed to Francis that the two boats paused when
opposite each other, and that a few words were exchanged.

Then the boat they were watching turned out straight into the lagoon.
It was rather lighter here than in the canal, bordered on each side by
houses, and Francis did not turn the head of his gondola for a minute
or two.

"It will be very difficult to keep them in sight out here without their
making us out," Giuseppi said.

"Yes, and it is likely enough that they are only going out there in
order that they may be quite sure that they are not followed, before
striking off to the place they want to go to. They may possibly have
made us out, and guess that we are tracking them. They would be sure to
keep their eyes and ears open."

"I can only just make them out now, Messer Francisco, and as we shall
have the buildings behind us, they will not be able to see us as well
as we can see them. I think we can go now."

"We will risk it, at any rate, Giuseppi. I have lost sight of them
already, and it will never do to let them give us the slip."

They dipped their oars in the water, and the gondola darted out from
the shore. They had not gone fifty strokes when they heard the sound of
oars close at hand.

"To the right, Giuseppi, hard!" Francis cried as he glanced over his
shoulder.

A sweep with both oars brought the gondola's head, in a moment, almost
at right angles to the course that she had been pursuing; and the next
sent her dancing on a new line, just as a four-oared gondola swept down
upon them, missing their stern by only three or four feet. Had they
been less quick in turning, the iron prow would have cut right through
t