Part 2 (1/2)
Not a word was spoken until the gondola neared its destination. Then the pa.s.senger said:
”You row well. If you like the job I may employ you again.”
”We are always ready to earn money,” Francis said, speaking in a gruff voice quite unlike his own.
”Very well. I will let you know, as we return, what night I shall want you again. I suppose you can keep your mouths shut on occasion, and can go without gossiping to your fellows as to any job on which you are employed?”
”We can do that,” Francis said. ”It's no matter to us where our customers want to go, if they are willing to pay for it; and as to gossiping, there is a saying, 'A silver gag is the best for keeping the mouth closed.'”
A few minutes later the bow of the gondola ran up on the sandy sh.o.r.e of San Nicolo. The stranger made his way forward and leapt out, and with the words, ”It may be two hours before I am back,” walked rapidly away.
”Why, Messer Francisco,” Giuseppi said when their pa.s.senger was well out of hearing, ”what on earth possessed you to accept a fare to such a place as this? Of course, for myself, I am glad enough to earn half a ducat, which will buy me a new jacket with silver b.u.t.tons for the next festa; but to make such a journey as this was too much, and it will be very late before we are back. If the padrone knew it he would be very angry.”
”I didn't do it to enable you to earn half a ducat, Giuseppi, although I am glad enough you should do so; but I did it because it seemed to promise the chance of an adventure. There must be something in this. A n.o.ble--for I have no doubt he is one--would never be coming out to San Nicolo, at this time of night, without some very strong motive. There can be no rich heiress whom he might want to carry off living here, so that can't be what he has come for. I think there must be some secret meeting, for as we came across the lagoon I saw one or two beats in the distance heading in this direction. Anyhow, I mean to try and find out what it all means.”
”You had better not, sir,” Giuseppi said earnestly. ”If there is any plot on foot we had best not get mixed up in it. No one is too high or too low to escape the vengeance of the council, if found plotting against the state; and before now gondolas, staved in and empty, have been found drifting on the lagoons, and the men who rowed them have never been heard of again. Once in the dungeons of Saint Mark it would be of no use to plead that you had entered into the affair simply for the amus.e.m.e.nt. The fact that you were not a regular boatman would make the matter all the worse, and the maxim that 'dead men tell no tales' is largely acted upon in Venice.
”I think, sir, the best plan will be to row straight back, and leave our fare to find his way home as best he may.”
”I mean to find something out about it if I can, Giuseppi. A state secret may be dangerous, but it may be valuable. Anyhow, there can be no great risk in it. On the water I think we can show our heels to anyone who chases us; and once in Venice, we are absolutely safe, for no one would suspect a gondola of Mr. Hammond, the English merchant, of having any connection with a hired craft with its two gondoliers.”
”That is true enough, sir; but I don't like it for all that. However, if you have made up your mind to it, there is nothing more to be said.”
”Very well. You stay here, and I will go and look round. You had better get the gondola afloat, and be ready to start at the instant, so that, if I should have to run for it, I can jump on board and be off in a moment.”
Francis made his way quietly up to the little group of huts inhabited by the fishermen, but in none of them could he see any signs of life--no lights were visible, nor could he hear the murmur of voices. There were, he knew, other buildings scattered about on the island; but he had only the light of the stars to guide him, and, not knowing anything of the exact position of the houses, he thought it better to return to the boat.
”I can find no signs of them, Giuseppi.”
”All the better, Messer Francisco. There are some sorts of game, which it is well for the safety of the hunter not to discover. I was very glad, I can tell you, when I heard your whistle, and made out your figure returning at a walk. Now you are back I will take an hour's nap, and I should advise you to do the same.”
But Francis had no thought of sleep, and sat down at his end of the gondola, wondering over the adventure, and considering whether or not it would be worth while to follow it up another night. That it was a plot of some sort he had little doubt. There were always in Venice two parties, equally anxious perhaps for the prosperity of the republic, but differing widely as to the means by which that prosperity would be best achieved, and as to the alliances which would, in the long run, prove most beneficial to her. There were also needy and desperate men ready enough to take bribes from any who might offer them, and to intrigue in the interest of Padua or Ferrara, Verona, Milan, or Genoa--whichever might for the time be their paymasters.
Francis was English, but he had been long enough in Venice to feel a pride in the island city, and to be almost as keenly interested in her fortunes as were his companions and friends; and a certain sense of duty, mingled with his natural love of adventure, decided him to follow up the chance which had befallen him, and to endeavour to ascertain the nature of the plot which was, he had little doubt, being hatched at San Nicolo.
In a very few minutes the regular breathing of Giuseppi, who had curled himself up in the bottom of the boat, showed that he had gone to sleep; and he did not stir until, an hour and a half after the return of Francis, the latter heard the fall of footsteps approaching the gondola.
”Wake up, Giuseppi, here comes our fare!”
Francis stood up and stretched himself as the stranger came alongside, as if he too had been fast asleep.
”Take me back to the spot where I hailed you,” the fare said briefly, as he stepped into the boat and threw himself back on the cus.h.i.+ons, and without a word the lads dipped their oars in the water and the gondola glided away towards Venice.
Just as they reached the mouth of the Grand Ca.n.a.l, and were about to turn into it, a six-oared gondola shot out from under the point, and a voice called out:
”Stop, in the name of the republic, and give an account of yourselves!”
”Row on,” the pa.s.senger exclaimed, starting up. ”Ten ducats if you can set me safely on sh.o.r.e.”
Had the lads been real gondoliers, it is probable that even this tempting offer would not have induced them to disregard the order from the galley, for they would have run no slight risk in so doing. But Francis had no desire to be caught, and perhaps imprisoned for a considerable time, until he was able to convince the council that his share of the night's work had been merely the result of a boyish freak. With two strokes of his oar, therefore, he swept the boat's head round, thereby throwing their pursuers directly astern of them; then he and Giuseppi threw their whole weight into the stroke, and the boat danced over the water at a pace very different to that at which it had hitherto proceeded.