events had not been otherwise; then turning to the window, he watched
the efforts made by the pirates to extinguish the flames, until a
dense cloud of smoke that overhung the town was the only sign
remaining of the conflagration.

For some time the Proveditore paced up and down the hall in anxious
thought upon his critical position, and the strange circumstances that
had led to it. In vain did he endeavour to reconcile, with what now
seemed more than ever inexplicable, the vindictive rage of Dansowich
in the dungeon, and the evidence before him that the pirate's wife was
still in existence. It was a riddle which he was unable to solve; and
at last, despairing of success, he abandoned the attempt, and sought
in slumber a temporary oblivion of the perils that surrounded him.



CHAPTER IV.

THE RECOGNITION.


Upon a divan in the splendid armoury of the pacha's palace at
Bosnia-Serai, the young Turk Ibrahim was seated in deep thought, the
day after his return home. On the walls around him were displayed
weapons and military accoutrements of every kind. Damascus sabres
richly inlaid, and many with jeweled hilts, embroidered banners,
golden stirrups, casques of embossed silver, burnished armour and
coats-of-mail, were arranged in picturesque and fanciful devices. As
the young Moslem gazed around him, and beheld these trophies of
victories won by Turkish viziers and pachas in their wars against