that they
had once taken.

"Eh, captain?"

"No, that is not the Genoese way, nor ours either," the captain said.
"We did better than that, signor. We recaptured her, and carried her
off from under their noses."

"You are joking," Polani said, "for they signalled the Lido as
returning laden, and a laden ship could never get away from state
galleys, however long her start. A fat pig might as soon try to escape
from a hunting dog."

"That is so, Messer Polani, and we did not trust to our speed. We
tricked them famously, sir. At least, when I say we did, Messer
Francisco here did, for the credit is due solely to him. If it had not
been for this young gentleman, I and the crew would now have been
camping out in the forests of Sicily, without the slightest prospect of
being able to make our way home, and the Lido would now be moored in
the port of Genoa."

"That is so, Cousin Polani," Matteo said. "It is to Francisco that we
owe our escape, and you owe the safety of the Lido and her cargo."

"It was just a happy idea that occurred to me," Francis said, "as it
would assuredly have occurred to Captain Pesoro, if he had been with
us, or to anyone else, and after I had first suggested it the captain
carried out all the arrangements."

"Not at all, Messer Francisco," the captain said obstinately. "I had no
part or hand in the business, beyond doing what you suggested, and you
would have got the Lido off just as well if I hadn't been there."

"Well, I will judge for myself when I hear," Polani said. "But, as it
must be an interesting story, my daughters would like to hear it also.
So, come into the next room and tell the tale, and I will order up a
flagon of Cyprus wine to moisten your throats."

"First of all," the captain began, after the girls had greeted Francis,
and all had taken their seats, "I must tell how the Lido was captured."

And he then related how the Genoese fleet had suddenly appeared before
them, and how, seeing the impossibility of escape, he had sent all on
shore with the exception of four sailors, and how he had, with them,
been released and sent on shore.

"That's the Genoese all over," Polani said. "If they could have sent
forty prisoners home they would have done so; but the fact that there
were only five on board, when they took the vessel, would seem to them
to detract from the credit of the capture."

The captain then told how, fearing that the people of Girgenti might
give them all up to