“How much?  I will give you thirty francs for her.”

Bastianello stared at his brother, but he made no remark while the bargain was being made, nor even when Ruggiero finally closed for fifty francs, paid the money down and proceeded to take possession of the old tub at once, to the infinite and forcibly expressed regret of the lads who had been playing with her.  Then the two brothers hauled her up upon the sloping cement slip between the pier and the bathing houses, and turned her over.  The boys swam away, and Black Rag departed with his money.

“What have you bought her for, Ruggiero?” asked Bastianello.

“She has copper nails,” observed the other examining the bottom carefully.  “She is worth fifty francs.  Your thought was good.  To-morrow she will be dry and we will caulk the seams, and the next day we will paint her and then we can take foreigners to the Cape in her if we have a chance and the signori do not go out.  Lend a hand, Bastianello; we must haul her up behind the boats.”

Bastianello said nothing and the two strong men almost carried the old tub to a convenient place for working at her.

“Do you want to do anything more to her to-night?” asked Bastianello.

“No.”

“Then I will go up.”

“Very well.”

Ruggiero smiled as he spoke, for he knew that Bastianello was going to try and get another glimpse of Teresina.  The ladies would probably go to drive and Teresina would be free until they came back.

He sat down on a boat near the one he had just bought, and surveyed his purchase.  He seemed on the whole well satisfied.  It was certainly good enough for the foreigners who liked to be pulled up to the cape on summer evenings.  She was rather easily upset, as Ruggiero had noticed, but a couple of bags of pebbles in the right place would keep her steady enough, and she had room for three or four people in the stern sheets and for two men to pull.  Not bad for fifty francs, thought Ruggiero.  And San Miniato had asked about going after crabs by torchlight.  This would be the very boat for the purpose, for getting about in and out of the rocks on which the crabs swarm at night.  Black Rag might have earned money with her.  But Black Rag was rather a worthless fellow, who drank too much wine, played too much at the public lottery and wasted his substance on trifles.

Ruggiero’s purchase was much discussed that evening and all the next day by the sailors of the Piccola Marina.  Some agreed that he had done well, and some said that he had made a mistake, but Ruggiero said nothing and paid no attention to the gossips.  On the next day and the day after that he was at work before dawn with Bastianello, and Black Rag was very much surprised at the trim appearance of his old boat when the brothers at last put her into the water and pulled themselves round the little harbour to see whether the seams were all tight.  But he pretended