Hammond, the good Polani sends you to stay for a while with
his daughters! Truly, when I set out in chase this morning of that
wretched rowboat, I little deemed that she carried a prize that I
valued more than a loaded caravel! It is to you I owe it that I am an
exile, instead of being the honoured son-in-law of the wealthy Polani.
It was your accursed interference that brought all my misfortunes upon
me; but thank Heaven my vengeance has come at last!

"Take them all below," he said, turning to his men. "Put the heaviest
irons you have got on this fellow, and fasten them with staples into
the deck.

"You thought I was going to hang you, or throw you overboard," he went
on, turning to Francis. "Do not flatter yourself that your death will
be so easy a one--you shall suffer a thousand torments before you die!"

Francis had not spoken a word since Ruggiero first turned to him, but
had stood with a tranquil and almost contemptuous expression upon his
face; but every nerve and muscle of his body were strained, and in
readiness to spring into action. He had expected that Ruggiero would at
once attack him, and was determined to leap upon him, and to sell his
life as dearly as possible.

The sailors seized Francis and his companions, and thrust them down
into the hold, which was already crowded with upwards of a hundred
captives. He was chained with heavy manacles. In obedience to
Ruggiero's orders, staples were driven through the links of his chain
deep into the deck, so that he was forced to remain in a sitting or
lying posture. The captain of the Naxos came and sat beside him.

"Who is this pirate captain, Messer Francisco, who thus knows and has
an enmity against you? By his speech he is surely a Venetian. And yet,
how comes a Venetian in command of a pirate?"

"That man is Ruggiero Mocenigo--the same who twice attempted to carry
off Messer Polani's daughters. The second time he succeeded, and would
have been tried for the offence by the state had he not, aided by a
band of Paduans, escaped from the keeping of his guard."

"Of course I heard of it, signor. I was away at sea at the time, but I
heard how you came up at the moment when the padrone's gondoliers had
been overcome, and rescued his daughters. And this is that villain
Mocenigo, a disgrace to his name and family!"

"Remember the name, captain, and tell it to each of your men, so that
if they ever escape from this slavery, into which, no doubt, he intends
t