-locks, as he backed round and glided out into the canal, but
though he was nearly dead with excitement and fright, Beppo kept his
head. Never had he managed the boat so well. It slid through the water
like a fish. They had gone two or three hundred feet and reached the
point where the smaller waterway opened into the Grand Canal, when
Beppina was appalled to see the dim outline of another boat a little
distance behind them. "They're following!" she gasped. "Oh, Beppo,
hurry!"

Beppo bent to his oars and the boat fairly shot through the water! On
and on they sped, past the great palaces now dark and grim in starlight,
past the market-place, round the great curve of the canal, and soon to
their great relief the black boat was no longer following.

"Do you suppose it was Luigi?" gasped Beppina.

"No," said Beppo, "he couldn't possibly have got after us so quickly,
because I untied Mario's gondola too. It would drift away far enough so
Luigi would have to swim to get it, and he couldn't do it in this time,
I know. Maybe it was a police boat, or maybe it was some one going home
late. Anyway, he wasn't after us, so I don't care who he was."

"Oh, Beppo, tell me your plan. Where are we going?" begged Beppina.

"Keep still," growled Beppo; "the less noise we make the more chance
there is of our getting away."

Beppina crumpled up in the bottom and said no more, while Beppo made the
boat skim on over the dark waters. At last he turned the prow toward
shore and touched at a dock where many boats were already moored. There
was no sign of life about the place, as they disembarked. There was
only the soft lapping of the water to break the silence.

"Stoop down," whispered Beppo. "These are the boats that cross over to
Mestre on the mainland before daylight to bring fruit and vegetables
back to market, and it may be that some of the men sleep in the boats.
We might wake them."

For a few moments they listened, crouching down on the dock, and then,
as they heard no sound, Beppo gave the sandalo a shove away from shore,
and let go the rope.

"Oh," whispered Beppina, "why did you do that?"

"We don't want it any more," answered Beppo, "and if they find it,
they'll think we fell out and were drowned. Then they won't look for
us."

"Oh, Beppo," said Beppina, "what a wonderful boy you are!"

"I've been planning this a long time," Beppo answered, with a little of
his old swagger; "but we aren't out of our troub