us thing in life must be to command a well-manned
galley, as she advanced to the encounter of an enemy superior in
numbers. He had never dreamed that such an aspiration could ever be
satisfied--it was merely one of the fancies in which lads so often
indulge.

Still, the thought that he was soon to return and take his place in the
shop in Chepe was exceedingly unpleasant to him.

Soon after breakfast the bell at the water gate rang loudly, and a
minute later the servant entered with the news that Signor Polani was
below, and begged an interview. Mr. Hammond at once went down to the
steps to receive his visitor, whom he saluted with all ceremony, and
conducted upstairs.

"I am known to you by name, no doubt, Signor Hammond, as you are to
me," the Venetian said, when the first formal greetings were over. "I
am not a man of ceremony, nor, I judge, are you; but even if I were,
the present is not an occasion for it. Your son has doubtless told you
of the inestimable service, which he rendered to me last night, by
saving my daughters, or rather my eldest daughter--for it was doubtless
she whom the villains sought--from being borne off by one of the worst
and most disreputable of the many bad and disreputable young men of
this city."

"I am indeed glad, Signor Polani, that my son was able to be of service
to you. I have somewhat blamed myself that I have let him have his own
way so much, and permitted him to give himself up to exercises of arms,
more befitting the son of a warlike noble than of a peaceful trader;
but the quickness and boldness, which the mastery of arms gives, was
yesterday of service, and I no longer regret the time he has spent,
since it has enabled him to be of aid to the daughters of Signor
Polani."

"A mastery of arms is always useful, whether a man be a peace-loving
citizen, or one who would carve his way to fame by means of his
weapons. We merchants of the Mediterranean might give up our trade, if
we were not prepared to defend our ships against the corsairs of
Barbary, and the pirates who haunt every inlet and islet of the Levant
now, as they have ever done since the days of Rome. Besides, it is the
duty of every citizen to defend his native city when attacked. And
lastly, there are the private enemies, that every man who rises but in
the smallest degree above his fellows is sure to create for himself.

"Moreover, a training in arms, as you say, gives readiness and
quickness, it enables the mind