As they began to ascend the cliff, Francis stopped suddenly.

“We should never be able to find this place in the dark,” he said.

“Giuseppi, you must stay here.  Do you collect a quantity of dried sticks, and lay them in readiness at that point opposite the ledge.  We will show a light as we come along, that is if we succeed in getting the Lido out, and directly you see it set fire to the sticks.  The fire will be a guide to us as to the position of the rocks.”

“Perhaps I had better take the sticks off to the ledge, Messer Francisco, and light my fire on the rock at the end.  The water is deep a few yards out, as we found, so you could sail close to the fire and then round behind the rocks without danger.”

“That will be the best way, Giuseppi; but how will you get the sticks off without wetting them?”

“I will make a bundle three or four times as big as I want,” Giuseppi said, “and then half of them will be dry.  I can put my clothes on them and the tinder.  I will answer for the fire, but I would rather have been with you in your adventure.”

“There will be no danger there, Giuseppi, so you need not be anxious about us.  It has to be done quietly and secretly, and there will be no fighting.  These Genoese are too strong to think of that; and if we are discovered in the attempt, or as we make off, we shall take to our boats again and row straight on shore.

“Keep a sharp lookout for us, we will hoist two lights, one above the other, to prevent your mistaking any fishing boat which may be coming along for us.

“Now, Matteo, for a climb.  We have no time to lose.”

The two lads climbed to the top of the cliff, and then started at a brisk pace along the top, and in half an hour reached the wood.

“We were beginning to wonder what had become of you,” the captain said as they joined him.

“We have been settling how to carry off the Lido,” Francis said, “and have arranged everything.”

The captain laughed.

“If we could fly with her through the air, you might get her away, but I see no other way.  I have been thinking it over since you left.  With luck we might get her safely out of the bay, but the galleys row four feet to our one, and as they would be sure to send some one way, and some the other, along the coast; they would pick us up again in two or three hours after daylight.”

“Nevertheless we have settled it, captain.  We have found a place where we can hide her, and the Genoese might search the coast for a month without finding her.”

“If that be so it is possible,” the captain said eagerly, “and you may be sure you will not find us backward in doing our best.”

Francis described the nature and position of the rock which would afford a shelter, and the means by which they had ascertained that there was plenty of water for the Lido behind it.

“It seems plausible,” the captain said when he had concluded, “and I am quite ready to make the attempt, if, in your opinion, it can be done.  You are Messer Polani’s representative, and for my own sake as well as his, I would do anything which promises a chance of recapturing the ship.  Besides, as you say, there is little danger in it, for we can take to the boats and make for the shore if discovered.