'It is for Handsome John,' he said, with conviction, and fixing his eyes on Zoë's. 'It is for the other Emperor, whom the master wishes to set free.'
'Yes—since you have guessed it,' Zoë answered. 'Will you take me now?'
'You will take one of your slaves with you, as you do when you go out in the boat with the secretary, I suppose?'
Vito still felt a little hesitation.
'No. I must go alone with you. And I myself shall be dressed like a slave, and I shall have a basket of things to carry on my head to the wife of the gaoler.'
'I see,' said Vito, who really loved adventure for its own sake, and was much less inclined to run away from danger than he represented. 'Did you say you wished to go at sunset?'
'Yes.'
'I shall be ready. But it will be better to take an old boat, and I will put on ragged clothes, to look like a hired boatman.'
'Yes; that will be better.'
Vito went away, delighted with the prospect before him. He was too young and too true a Venetian not to look forward with pleasure to rowing the beautiful Arethusa up the Golden Horn, though he was only a servant and she was the master's most treasured possession. He felt, too, some manly pride in the thought of possibly protecting her, for he meant to follow her ashore and look on from a distance, to see whether she got safely into the tower, and he would wait until she came out. The master would expect that much of him, at least.