ho was owner of
his vessel and cargo, as well as padrone or captain, entertained Bacri
with accounts of his adventures on the sea, which the Jew returned in
kind with his experiences of mercantile transactions in savage lands.
Mariano drank in all that they said with youthful avidity, and the
little old lady's mouth rippled responsive, like the aspen leaf to the
breeze; while Lucien and Juliet, thus left to themselves, had no other
resource than to entertain each other as best they could!

Then the adieux were said, the voyagers went down to the port, embarked
on board their good ship--a trim-built schooner--and set sail with a
fair wind.

"I wish I saw them all safe back again!" said the little old lady, with
a sigh.

Juliet said nothing, though she echoed the sigh.

Meanwhile the schooner leant over to the breeze, and ere night-fall left
the shores of Sicily far behind.

CHAPTER TWO.

UNFOLDS A LITTLE OF THE TALE.

Another and a very different vessel chanced to be floating in those seas
at the time the Sicilian trader set sail. At a distance she might have
been mistaken for a fishing-boat, for she carried only two lateen sails,
of that high triangular form which may still be seen in the
Mediterranean and on the lakes of Switzerland. In reality, however, the
vessel was of greater dimensions than even the largest boat, and her
main-mast with its sail was of gigantic proportions. She was also
full-decked, and several pieces of heavy ordnance pointed their black
muzzles from port-holes in her bulwarks.

No one could have mistaken her character as a vessel of war, for,
besides the guns referred to, she had an unusually large crew of bronzed
and stalwart men. Their costume, as well as their arms, told that these
were of Eastern origin. Although there was much variety in detail, they
all wore the same gold-laced jackets, the same loose Turkish drawers
gathered in below the knees, and broad silken scarfs round their waists,
with richly chased silver-mounted pistols and yataghans or curved
swords. Some wore the turban, others the blue-tasselled red fez or
tarbouch of Tunis, while a few contented themselves with a kerchief tied
loosely round their heads.

One, who appeared to be the captain of the vessel, stood near the
steersman, leaning on the bulwarks, and scanning the horizon with a
telescope. His costume was similar to that of his men, but of richer
material.

"It is certainly a sail," said he whom