s, appears to wander in his mind; and, except in a
case of urgent necessity, do not trust him; and, if you have occasion to
do so, appeal to his generosity and honour, and he is more likely to
serve you."

"I will do as you advise, Ada; and I confess that I would rather trust
to that beautiful Italian girl, than to the sort of person you describe
her brother to be;" said Fleetwood. "But our time is short; and I have
not told you one word of our plan. You must know that I was fortunate
enough to fall in with a Greek captain, who knows the island, and
entertains a laudable hatred for Signor Zappa; and he undertook to pilot
us here, either in the _Ione_, or in any way I proposed; but strongly
urged me to employ stratagem to recover you. I accordingly resolved to
pretend to be a Maltese seaman, as the character I could best personate,
and to be unfortunately wrecked on the island. Once here, I felt sure I
should find means to communicate with you; and I then proposed to cut
out a boat from the harbour, and to carry you off in her. I directed
our pinnace and jollyboat to wait every night just out of sight of land,
to the windward of the harbour, with the men well armed, all the time I
am here, to assist us should we be followed when escaping. I, at first,
intended to have come alone; but my Greek friend first insisted on
coming, then so did Bowse, in a manner I could not refuse; and I was
glad when a real Maltese volunteered, as he could act as spokesman if
necessary. Young Jack Raby also begged very hard to be allowed to
accompany me; and, as he can speak Maltese and looks his character, I
felt that he would be of great use; as, if it were necessary, while he
remained hid away in the bottom of the boat, you might make your escape
in his dress. The party I have mentioned left the ship yesterday
morning in a mistico I bought for the purpose; and we agreed to pretend
to have lost our own ship, and to be endeavouring to find our way back
to Malta. Though we wished for a strong breeze to give a plausibility
to our being wrecked, we did not bargain for quite so much wind as we
had, and we were fortunate in having so good a pilot as the Greek. I
have not much hope of getting the mistico off--and scarcely intend to
use her if we do--but she will be very useful in turning suspicion
aside; and if the pirates think fit to watch us, they will keep their
eyes in that direction while we are taking our departure in another. By