But Polani's weight and strength told, and he was forcing his opponent back, when his foot slipped on the bloodstained deck.

He fell forward; and in another moment Ruggiero would have run him through the body; had not the weapon been knocked up by Francis, who, watching every movement of the fight, sprang forward when he saw the merchant slip.
"This time, Ruggiero, my hands are free.

How about your vengeance now ?" Ruggiero gave a cry of astonishment, at seeing the lad whom he believed to be lying in chains, five hundred miles away, facing him.

For a moment he recoiled, and then with the cry, "I will take it now," sprang forward.

But this time he had met an opponent as active and as capable as himself.
For a minute or two they fought on even terms, and then Ruggiero fell suddenly backwards, a crossbow bolt, from one of the Venetians on the poop of the vessel, having struck him full in the forehead.
Without their leader, the spirit of the pirates had fled.