"Frank, accompanied by Beppo (for there was yet time for these
preparations before midnight), repaired to the yacht, taking Giacomo by
the way. There our new ally, familiar to most of that piratical crew,
and sanctioned by the presence of Frank, as the count's friend and
prospective brother-in-law, told Peschiera's hirelings that they were to
quit the vessel, and wait on shore under Giacomo's auspices till further
orders; and as soon as the decks were cleared of these ruffians (save a
few left to avoid suspicion, and who were afterwards safely stowed down
in the hold), and as soon as Giacomo had lodged his convoy in a public
house, where he quitted them drinking his health over unlimited rations
of grog, your inestimable servant quietly shipped on board the Italians
pressed into the service, and Frank took charge of the English sailors.

"The prince, promising to be on board in due time, then left me to make
arrangements for his journey to Vienna by the dawn. I hastened to a
masquerade warehouse, where, with the help of an ingenious stagewright
artificer, I disguised myself into a most thorough-paced-looking cut-
throat, and then waited the return of my friend Beppo with the most
perfect confidence."

"Yet, if that rascal had played false, all these precautions were lost.
/Cospetto!/ you were not wise," said the prudent philosopher.

"Very likely not. You would have been so wise, that by this time your
daughter would have been lost to you forever."

"But why not employ the police?"

"First, Because I had already employed them to little purpose; secondly,