The _sbirro_ who saw him do it marked the sailor and his vessel, and never lost sight of him till he hoisted his jib and floated away down stream.

Then the spy took horse and galloped down to Fiumicino, where he waited for the little vessel, boarded her from a boat, escorted by a couple of gendarmes, and had no difficulty in taking the letter from the terrified seaman, who was glad enough to escape without detention.

During the next fortnight several letters were stopped in this way, carried by different sailors, and the whole correspondence went straight to the Cardinal.

It was not often that he troubled himself to play the detective in person, but when he did so, he was not easily baffled.

And now he observed that about a week after the interception of the first letter the small drafts which used to come so frequently to Del Ferice's address from Florence suddenly ceased, proving beyond a doubt that each letter was paid for according to its value so soon as it was received.
With regard to the contents of these epistles little need be said.