They were, Francis supposed, returning from spending the evening at the house of some of their friends.

There were but few boats now passing along the canal.
Polani's gondola was a considerable distance ahead, when Francis heard a sudden shout of, "Mind where you are going!" Then there was a crash of two gondolas striking each other, followed by an outburst of shouts and cries of alarm, with, Francis thought, the clash of swords.
"Row, Giuseppi!" he exclaimed, leaping from his seat and catching up the other oar; and with swift and powerful strokes the two lads drove the gondola towards the scene of what was either an accident, or an attempt at crime.
They had no doubt which it was when they arrived at the spot.

A four-oared gondola lay alongside that of the Polanis, and the gondoliers with their oars, and the two retainers with their swords, had offered a stout resistance to an armed party who were trying to board her from the other craft, but their resistance was well nigh over by the time Francis brought his gondola alongside.
One of the retainers had fallen with a sword thrust through his body, and a gondolier had been knocked overboard by a blow from an oar.

The two girls were standing up screaming, and the surviving retainer was being borne backwards by three or four armed men, who were slashing furiously at him.
"Quick, ladies, jump into my boat!" Francis exclaimed as he came alongside, and, leaning over, he dragged them one after the other into his boat, just as their last defender fell.
With a fierce oath the leader of the assailants was about to spring into the gondola, when Francis, snatching up his oar, smote him with all his strength on the head as he was in the act of springing, and he fell with a heavy splash into the water between the boats.
A shout of alarm and rage rose from his followers, but the gondolas were now separated, and in another moment that of Francis was flying along the canal at the top of its speed.
"Calm yourselves, ladies," Francis said.

"There is no fear of pursuit.
They will stop to pick up the man I knocked into the canal, and by the time they get him on board we shall be out of their reach." "What will become of the signora ?" the eldest girl asked, when they recovered a little from their agitation.
"No harm will befall her, you may be sure," Francis said.