"It's not that I'm afraid o' my neck, lad," said the bluff merchant,
"but I fear there is no chance for us, and they might visit their wrath
on poor Lucien."

"No fear, father; I am convinced that the Dey has already found out his
value. Besides, if we escape we shall be able to raise funds to ransom
him."

Francisco shook his head.

"And what," said he, "are we to do when we get clear out of the
Bab-el-Oued gate, supposing we are so far lucky?"

"Scatter, and make for the head of Frais Vallon," whispered Castello as
he passed. "A boat waits at Barbarossa's Tower. Our signal is--"

Here the Portuguese gave a peculiar whistle, which was too low to be
heard by the guards, who were busy marshalling the gang.

"You'll agree, father?" urged Mariano, entreatingly.

The merchant replied by a stern "Yes" as the gang was ordered to move
on.

Mariano instantly gave his straw hat a tremendous pull to one side, and
walked along with a glow of enthusiasm in his countenance. One of the
guards, noting this, stepped forward and walked beside him.

"So much the better," thought Mariano; "there will be no time lost when
we grapple."

Traversing the passages of the mole, the gang passed into the town, and
commenced to thread those narrow streets which, to the present day,
spread in a labyrinth between the port and Bab-el-Oued.

As they passed through one of those streets which, being less frequented
than most of the others, was unusually quiet, a low hiss was heard.

At the moment Mariano chanced to be passing an open doorway which led,
by a flight of stairs, into a dark cellar. Without an instant's
hesitation he tripped up his guard and hurled him headlong into the
cellar, where, to judge from the sounds, he fell among crockery and tin
pans. At the same moment, Francisco hit a guard beside him such a blow
on the chest with his fist, as laid him quite helpless on the ground.

The other ten, who had been selected and let into the intended plot by
Castello on account of their superior physical powers, succeeded in
knocking down the guards in their immediate neighbourhood, and then all
of them dashed with headlong speed along the winding street.

There were one or two passengers and a few small shops in the street,
but the thing had been done so suddenly and with so little noise, that
the passengers and owners of the shops were not aware of what had
occurred until they beheld the twelve captives rush past them like a