have heard all the news, I suppose, and know that our enemy will
persecute you no more."

"We have heard, papa, and also that you yourself fought with him, which
was very wrong and very rash of you."

"And did he tell you that had it not been for him I should not be here
alive now, girls?"

"No, father. He said that when you slipped he occupied Ruggiero's
attention until the cross bolt struck him."

"That is what he did, my dear; but had he not occupied his attention I
should have been a dead man. The thrust was aimed at me as I fell, and
would have pierced me had he not sprung forward and turned it aside,
and then engaged in single combat with Mocenigo, who, with all his
faults, was brave and a skillful swordsman; and yet, as the governor
himself said, probably Francisco would have slain him, even had not the
combat ended as it did.

"And now we must have his story in full. 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