figures if he wrote them.

"Very well," he said. "It is probable I shall generally know, each time
I discharge you, when I shall want you again; but should there be any
change, I will make the figures on the base of the column at the corner
of the Piazzetta, and that will mean the hour at which you are to meet
me that night at the usual place."

Nothing more was said, until the gondola arrived at the same spot at
which it had landed the passenger on the previous occasion.

"I shall be back in about the same time as before," the fare said when
he alighted.

As he strode away into the darkness, Francis followed him. He was
shoeless, for at that time the lower class seldom wore any protection
to the feet, unless when going a journey over rough ground. Among the
gondoliers shoes were unknown; and Francis himself generally took his
off, for coolness and comfort, when out for the evening in his boat.

He kept some distance behind the man he was following, for as there
were no hedges or inclosures, he could make out his figure against the
sky at a considerable distance. As Francis had expected, he did not
make towards the village, but kept along the island at a short distance
from the edge of the water.

Presently Francis heard the dip of oars, and a gondola ran up on the
sands halfway between himself and the man he was following. He threw
himself down on the ground. Two men alighted, and went in the same
direction as the one who had gone ahead.