Therefore he has to find out who are now the masters of
the whole of the captives sold at the same time, and then to pursue his
investigations until he discovers the identity of the men he is looking
for. Once he has found this, I will promise you there will be no delay.
I have ordered him to make the best bargain in each case he can, but
that at any rate he is to buy every one of them, whatever it may cost.
"I have sent him the personal descriptions of each man of the boat's
crew, as given to me by their friends and relatives here, as this will
be an assistance in his search. If, for instance, he hears of a
Christian slave named Giuseppi living with a master some hundreds of
miles in the interior, the fact that this man is middle aged will show
at once that he was not the Giuseppi, age 20, of whom he is in search.
I have particularly impressed upon him, in my letter, that we were
especially anxious for the rescue of the captain, and the young man
Giuseppi, so I hope that by the time you return from the voyage, I may
have received some news of them."
Matteo was greatly pleased when he heard that he was going to sail
under Francis.
"I would rather that we had both been volunteers," Francis said. "It
seems absurd my being appointed second officer, while you as yet have
no official position.
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