"Well, what then?"
"Well, his hair is shaved clean to the skin, as if he just came from the Bagnio."
"One would think," exclaimed the captain, loudly, "you are all saints. Do you remember, Pietro, what you had done before I shipped you?"
"Bah! I killed a Custom House officer, that is no crime."
"So, and what was the matter with you, Rosario?"
"Captain," answered Rosario, proudly, "you ought to know what a vendetta is."
"Didn't I say so? You are all as innocent as newborn babes. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves."
In spite of his apparent indifference, the captain felt inwardly uneasy, and the sailors' statements appeared to him to be well founded.
About four days before, as the frigate lay at anchor at St. Tropez, a man had approached the captain and offered him three thousand francs if he would take him along and land him on the Italian coast. Gennaro, the captain and owner of a smuggling vessel, did not hesitate long. Three thousand francs was a large sum, and as the passenger paid cash he overlooked certain things which he might otherwise have noticed. The closely shaved head pointed to a former galley slave, but as he conducted himself well on board and kept out of every one's way, the captain no longer thought about it.