ply."

"But, Signor Paolo," said Ada, not knowing how long he might continue in
this strain, "your sister is still alive, and I trust that by the aid of
your skill, her wound may neither be mortal nor of much consequence."

"Not mortal, lady," he said, bitterly; "and yet, I tell you, it would
have killed her had it but scratched the skin. It is the spirit with
which that dagger was cast will destroy her far quicker than the wound."

Ada now entreated him to examine into his sister's condition; and at
length, grown more calm, he set skilfully about his office, and he
confessed that, if fever did not set in, the wound was of slight
importance.

When he was at liberty, Ada at last asked him to give her tidings of
Fleetwood; but he denied all knowledge of him, saying, that he had left
him, with Raby watching him, at the fisherman's hut, and that on his
return, both were gone, and that he could nowhere discover them.

Mila, now having an interpreter, came forward with her version of the
story. She said she had heard that their chief had, on quitting the
tower, come down to the bay in a state of passion, in which he had never
before been seen, at the non-appearance of the two other prisoners, whom
he vowed he would execute the moment they were discovered; that he had
caused diligent search to be made for them in every direction, with the
same want of success, till, at last a small boat belonging to the _Zoe_
was found to be missing, in which it was, consequently, supposed they
had escaped.

"Thank Heaven!" ejaculated Ada, with a gleam of joy on her countenance,
which showed how much her heart was relieved. "Oh, Signor Paolo, you
know not how grateful I am to you for your generous assistance in the
matter."

"Do not thank me, lady, nor believe that I knew of, or had any hand in
the escape of your countrymen, if indeed they have escaped, of which I
would entreat you not to be too sanguine," he replied; but, seeing the
reaction his words were producing, he added, "and yet, remember, I have
no reason to suppose that they are not in a place of safety. More I
cannot say--and I beseech you not to ask me."

"But I have not told you all," interrupted little Mila, who guessed that
he was no longer translating what she had said. "The moment the chief
found that the boat was gone, he ordered as many men as she can carry to
go on board the _Zoe_, and he himself accompanied them. She immediately
set sail in pursuit, and they