ts white sails,--little specks of
gold upon a background of richer colouring--and they saw that she
was a handsome, shapely-looking vessel, very different to the dirty
Italian lugger which put in at their harbour for a few hours week by
week.

"Will she need a pilot?" cried Francesco, rising in his boat, and
watching the stranger. "Let us wait here, and see if she signals for
one!"

"Let us all go! There will be something for each!" cried another.

"We will race," Antonio answered, whose boat was the fastest. "The
first to reach her shall have the stranger's money!"

"No, no! that is not fair," chorused the others. "We will draw lots!"

Then up rose old Guiseppe, the father of them all. He shook his head,
and turned a sorrowing face seawards. "Peace! children. You are like
chattering seabirds squabbling over a bait which will never be yours.
Yonder ship will need no pilot! She is no stranger to Cruta!"

They looked at her, and shook their heads. "We have never seen her
before," they said.

"Some of you are too young to remember her," the old man continued,
"and you were all away when she was here within a twelvemonth ago! But
I know her! Three times has she entered this harbour, and each time
has she left sorrow and grief behind her. It is the ship of the
English lord who stole away the daughter of our Count many years ago!"

There was a little murmur of suppressed wonder. Then, as though moved
by a common instinct, every face was turned upward to the castle wall.

The Count had gone. But, even as they looked, he reappeared, leading
another figure by the hand. They held their breath with wonder. No one
had ever seen him there save alone, and now a woman stood by his
side. They could see nothing of her, save her long hair flowing in
the breeze, and the bare outline of her figure. "Who was she? Guiseppe
must know! Who was she?" they asked him eagerly.

He shook his head. "Better not ask," he answered. "Better not know!
Strange things have happened up there! It is not for us to chatter of
them!"

"One night as I sailed homeward," Antonio said, in a low tone, "I
heard strange cries from the castle. The night was still, and the
breeze brought the sound to my ears. They came from up above, and
when I strained my eyes I fancied that I could see a white figure--the
figure of a woman--standing on the castle walls. She was crying for
help, but suddenly, as though a hand were placed over her mouth, her
cries ceased,