the quarries and on the fortifications, while some
of the most refractory among them were beaten to death, and others were
thrown upon the large hooks outside the town-wall, or crucified.

To the latter death Francisco Rimini and his sons were condemned, and it
is certain that the sentence would have been carried into immediate
effect--for legal processes among the pirates were short, and judicial
action was sharp--had not an event occurred which arrested for a brief
period the hand of piratical justice.

This event was the arrival of a Sicilian priest, who was commissioned to
treat for the exchange of prisoners and the ransom of a certain number
of Sicilian slaves. The ransom of these slaves varied much according to
their position, but a very common price demanded and paid was from 200
pounds to 400 pounds sterling. Of course noblemen, bankers, wealthy
merchants, etcetera, were rated much higher than others, but not too
high to render their ransom impossible, for the Algerines were adepts at
this species of traffic, having been engaged in it more or less for
several centuries! As the settlement of these ransoms, and the
ascertaining as to who were the fortunate ones whose friends had
succeeded in raising the necessary funds, required time, the execution
of the Riminis and other Sicilians was, as we have said, delayed.

When Paulina and her sister heard of the arrival of the priest, they
flew into each other's arms, never doubting that the husband of the
former must have at last raised the required sum for their ransom, but
on being reminded that the priest was commissioned to redeem only
captives of Sicily, they sat down and relieved themselves by giving way
to floods of tears. Paulina, however, soon comforted herself by kissing
her baby, and Angela consoled herself with the reflection that, at all
events, Mariano and his father and brother would be ransomed, which, she
naturally argued, would enable the first to move heaven and earth in
order to effect the ransom of herself, and sister also. She did not
know, poor girl, of the dreadful fate to which her lover was already
doomed, for the consul, although aware of it, could not prevent it, and
had not the heart to tell her.

Previous to this event the British consul had endeavoured to use his
influence to bring about peace between the Algerines and Sicilians, but
the former, having no desire for peace, made the terms such as could not
be agreed to, namely, that