I have not heard much about it yet, and you have heard nothing; and I want to know how he managed to get out of the hands of that man, when he had once fallen into them." "That is what we want to know, too, father.

We know what a sharp watch was kept upon us, and I am sure they must have been much more severe with him." "They were certainly more severe," Francis said smiling, "for my right hand was chained to my left ankle, and the left hand to to my right ankle--not tightly, you know, but the chain was so short that I could not stand upright.

But, on the other hand, I do not think my guards were as vigilant as yours.

However, I will tell you the whole story." The girls listened with rapt attention to the story of the capture, the escape, and of his hiding in the hold of the pirate in order to be able to give them a warning in time.
"Your escape was fortunate, indeed," the merchant said when he had finished.

"Fortunate both for you and for us, for I have no doubt that Mocenigo had intended to put you to a lingering death, on his return.
As for the girls, nothing could have saved them from the fate he designed for them, save the method which you took of arriving here before him." "What are we to do for him, father ?" Maria exclaimed.