When breakfast time approached he ceased for a while, but after the meal had been taken, he recommenced the task.  He met with little success till he reached the door, but here he was more fortunate.  A short distance below the surface were a number of pieces of stone of various sizes, which, he had no doubt, had been cut from the blocks to allow for the fixing of the lintel and doorpost.  He chose half a dozen pieces of the handiest sizes, each having a flat surface.  Then replacing the earth carefully, he took one of the pieces in his hand, and moistening it with water, set to work.

He made little progress.  Still the stone did wear the iron, and he felt sure that, by perseverance, he should succeed in wearing off the burrs.  All day he worked without intermission, holding a rag wrapped round the stone to deaden the sound.  He worked till his fingers ached so that he could no longer hold it, then rested for an hour or two, and resumed his work.  When his guard brought his dinner he asked him when the galley was to sail again.

“It was to have gone today,” the man said, “but the captain has been laid up with fever.  He has a leech from Tunis attending him, and, weak as he is, he is so bent on going that he would have had himself carried on board the ship, had not the leech said that, in that case, he would not answer for his life, as in the state his blood is in, his wounds would assuredly mortify did he not remain perfectly quiet.  So he has agreed to delay for three days.”

Francis was unable to work with the stone at night, for in the stillness the sound might be heard; but for some hours he hacked away with the dagger at the rivets on his manacles.  The next morning he was at work as soon as the chirrup of the cicadas began, as these, he knew, would completely deaden any sound he might make.  By nighttime the rivet ends on the irons round his ankles were worn so thin, that he felt sure that another hour’s work would bring them level with the iron, and before he went to sleep the rivets on the wrist were in the same condition.

He learned from his guard, next morning, that the captain was better, that he was to be taken on board in the cool of the evening, and that the vessel would start as soon as the breeze sprang up in the morning.  In the afternoon his two guards entered, and bade him follow them.  He was conducted to the principal house in the village, and into a room where Ruggiero Mocenigo was lying on a couch.

“I have sent for you,” Ruggiero said, “to tell you that I have not forgotten you.  My vengeance has been delayed from no fault of mine, but it will be all the sweeter when it comes.  I am going to fetch Polani’s daughters.  I have heard that, since you thrust yourself between me and them, you have been a familiar in the house, that Polani treats you as a member of the family, and that you are in high favour with his daughters.  I have kept myself informed of what happened in Venice, and I have noted each of these things down in the account of what I owe you.  I am going to fetch Polani’s daughters here, and to make Maria my wife, and then I will show her how I treat those who cross my path.  It will be a lesson to her, as well as for you.  You shall wish yourself dead a thousand times before death comes to you.”