, that he felt sure
that another hour's work would bring them level with the iron, and
before he went to sleep the rivets on the wrist were in the same
condition.

He learned from his guard, next morning, that the captain was better,
that he was to be taken on board in the cool of the evening, and that
the vessel would start as soon as the breeze sprang up in the morning.
In the afternoon his two guards entered, and bade him follow them. He
was conducted to the principal house in the village, and into a room
where Ruggiero Mocenigo was lying on a couch.

"I have sent for you," Ruggiero said, "to tell you that I have not
forgotten you. My vengeance has been delayed from no fault of mine, but
it will be all the sweeter when it comes. I am going to fetch Polani's
daughters. I have heard that, since you thrust yourself between me and
them, you have been a familiar in the house, that Polani treats you as
a member of the family, and that you are in high favour with his
daughters. I have kept myself informed of what happened in Venice, and
I have noted each of these things down in the account of what I owe
you. I am going to fetch Polani's daughters here, and to make Maria my
wife, and then I will show her how I treat those who cross my path. It
will be a lesson to her, as well as for you. You shall wish yourself
dead a thousand times before death comes to you."

"I always knew that you were a villain, Ruggiero Mocenigo," Francis
said quietly, "although I hardly thought that a man who had once the
honour of being a noble of Venice, would sink to become a pirate and
renegade. You may carry Maria Polani off, but you will never succeed
through her in obtaining a portion of her father's fortune, for I know
that, the first moment her hands are free, she will stab herself to the
heart, rather than remain in the power of such a wretch."

Ruggiero snatched up a dagger from a table by his couch as Francis was
speaking, but dropped it again.

"Fool," he said. "Am I not going to carry off the two girls? and do you
not see that it will tame Maria's spirit effectually, when she knows
that if she lays hands on herself, she will but shift the honour of
being my wife from herself to her sister?"

As the laugh of anticipated triumph rang in Francis's ears, the latter,
in his fury, made a spring forward to throw himself upon the villain,
but he had forgotten his chains, and fell headlong on to the floor.

"Guards," Ruggiero shouted, "ta