he exclaimed; "Lucien!"

"Mariano!" cried Francisco, throwing his arms round his younger son and
giving him a hearty kiss on each cheek.

"Hist! be quiet," said Bacri, seizing Francisco by the arm in his
powerful grasp and dragging him along.

The interference of the Jew was not a moment too soon, for several
soldiers who were patrolling the streets at the time overheard the sound
of their voices and hurried towards them.

They ran now, in good earnest, and quickly reached the door of Jacob
Mordecai's house, which Bacri opened with a key, and shut gently after
letting his friends pass, so that the soldiers lost sight of them as if
by a magical disappearance.

"Your house is plundered," said Francisco to Bacri, after Jacob Mordecai
had conducted them to the skiffa of his dwelling.

"I guessed as much. But how came you to escape?" asked Bacri.

Lucien related the circumstances of their escape, while his father
dipped his head in the fountain, for the purpose, as he remarked, of
cooling his brains.

"And what is now to be done?" asked Mariano, with a look of perplexity.
"Bacri has been kind enough to get me out of that horrible Bagnio just
in time to save me from torture of some sort; but here we are in the
heart of a city in a state of insurrection, with almost every
street-corner guarded, and bands of men, that appear to me to be devils
in turbans, going about seeking for subjects on whom to exercise their
skill."

"The insurrection is over--at least _this_ one is over," said Jacob
Mordecai sadly, "though it may well be that another insurrection shall
follow close on its heels; but it is probable that there will be some
degree of peace now for a time, and the guarded condition of the town
will favour your escape."

"How so, Signor Mordecai?" asked Francisco; "it has hitherto been my
belief as well as experience that a town in a state of siege was the
reverse of favourable to anything implying freedom of action."

"Thou art right, friend," returned Jacob, with a smile, "and that
absence of freedom will keep the streets clear of all who might
otherwise interrupt thee, while, as to the guarded corners, my brother
Bacri knows a variety of passages above and under ground, through which
he will guide you past them to the city wall."

"Then let us be gone without delay," urged Francisco, "for, good sirs,
my neck has for some time past felt sundry twinges, as though the
bow-string were already around it."

"Hal