was a store of spare arms in the hold, and Francis, furnishing
himself with a sword and large dagger, waited until he heard a great
movement overhead, and then went upon deck and joined a gang of men
employed in lowering one of the boats. The boat was a large one, rowing
sixteen oars and carrying some twenty men seated in the stern. Here
Francis took his place with the others. The boat pushed off and waited
until four others were launched and filled. Then the order was given,
and the boats rowed in a body towards the shore. The men landed and
formed under their respective officers, one man remaining in each boat
to keep it afloat.

Francis leaped ashore, and while the men were forming up, found no
difficulty in slipping away unnoticed. As he did not know where the
path was, and was afraid of making a noise, he lay down among the rocks
until he heard the word of command to start given. Then he cautiously
crept out, and, keeping far enough in the rear to be unseen, followed
the sound of their footsteps. By the short time which had elapsed
between the landing and the start, he had no doubt they were guided by
some persons perfectly acquainted with the locality, probably by some
natives of the island among the mixed crew.

Francis had, during his voyage, thought over the course he should
pursue on landing; and saw that, ignorant as he was of the country, his
only hope was in obtaining a guide who would conduct him to Polani's
villa before the arrival of Mocenigo and his band. The fact that the
crew were divided into five parties, which were to proceed in different
directions, and that he did not know which of them was commanded by the
captain, added to the difficulty. Had they kept together he might,
after seeing the direction in which they were going, make a detour and
get ahead of them. But he might now follow a party going in an entirely
wrong direction, and before he could obtain a guide, Mocenigo's band
might have gone so far that they could not be overtaken before they
reached the villa.

There was nothing to do but to get ahead of all the parties, in the
hope of coming upon a habitation before going far. As soon, therefore,
as the last band had disappeared, he started at a run. The country was
open, with few walls or fences; therefore on leaving the road he was
able to run rapidly forwards, and in a few minutes knew that he must be
ahead of the pirates. Then he again changed his course so as to strike
the road he