Later that night, Villetard told him that he had again seen Malderini, and that his side of the affair was all in order. The hotheads among the conspirators had shown immediate enthusiasm at this chance to kidnap their great enemy, and even the more cautious had soon been persuaded that, if he could be coerced into ordering the evacuation of Venice by the French, the fact that a few civilians had done so would be sufficient hold over him to ensure that he did not rescind the order after they had released him.
They had decided to take him to one of the distant islands about twelve miles away at the south end of the lagoon, as from it he could not possibly escape, and that, too, would eliminate any risk of the French finding him should they institute a house-to-house search throughout the city. One of Malderini's lieutenants was a lawyer named Ottoboni, an inveterate talker, who also prided himself on his ability as a negotiator; so when Malderini expressed some misgivings about being capable of arguing such a forceful character as Boneparte into doing as they wished, the lawyer had promptly volunteered to handle that side of the business, which would leave the arch-conspirator free to keep out of personal danger in the rear of the party.
Malderini had pressed Villetard to tell him whereabouts Boneparte was lodging in the city, so that the conspirators could make detailed plans for their coup. But Villetard had replied that he was actually in Mestre and coming over only from time to time. It was, however, certain that he would sup in Venice the following night, although where was not yet definitely settled. That would be known by about seven o'clock; so Malderini was to come to the Embassy shortly before half-past, and Villetard would be able to give him full particulars of the General-in-Chief's plans for the evening.
By this arrangement, Roger reckoned that the kidnappers could not arrive at Portillo much before nine o'clock, by which time he expected to have Napoleon and Sirisha comfortably settled down at supper. Only one fence now remained to be got over the kidnapping of the Princess; but everything else had so far gone according to plan and, buoyed up by his natural optimism, Roger went cheerfully to bed.
Next morning, punctually at nine o'clock, he went out to the French-manned barge, which had been brought to the Embassy under the command of a tough looking middle-aged naval lieutenant named Bouvard. First, Roger made sure that its crew and the half-dozen soldiers had been warned that they were to be engaged in a special undertaking and that in no circumstances were they to talk about it afterwards; then he explained what he intended to do. As he proceeded, broad grins spread over the faces of most of the men and a few began to mutter ribald comments; but he soon reduced them to order by saying that this was no affair of gallantry it was a step that had to be taken in the political interests of the Republic.
Having made certain that the Lieutenant fully understood what was required of him. he gave the order to cast off and had the barge rowed down the Grand Canal as far as the Canal de Duca, which was on the opposite side to the Malderini Palace and about two hundred yards below it. He then had the barge backed into the Duca Canal and made fast to one side of its entrance, so that all of it except its bow was concealed by the house on the corner. Climbing across the thwarts he settled down in the bow to keep watch on the Palace.
It was by then twenty-past nine, and it had been the Princess Sirisha's custom to go out for her morning walk at about ten o'clock; so he had taken up his position to watch for her to come out of the Palace in ample time provided that she had not changed her habits. On that point Villetard had been unable to give him any information, and the possibility that she had made his wait an anxious one. Now that autumn was here, she might not go out for a walk every day, and he was working to a strict time-table. To have abducted her the day before would have sprung his mine under Malderini too early and perhaps have provoked him into some act which would have upset everything previously agreed on; but Sirisha had to be given time to recover from the shock she would sustain, so must be carried off by midday at the latest. Fortunately it was again a lovely sunny day, so the prospect of her coming out seemed good; but Roger was uncomfortably aware that, should she fail to do so, he would have to go in and get her.
His uncertainty about how matters would develop made his forty-minute wait seem very much longer, but at last the many bells of Venice chimed ten and he sat forward with renewed eagerness, his eyes riveted on the portico of the Palace two hundred yards away.
Five minutes passed, ten, but there were no signs of activity. The gondola was tied up to one of the mooring poles striped, like a gargantuan barber's pole, with the Malderini colours, but the gondoliers had not come out to it. On the other hand, the Princess had not come onto her balcony, which would have suggested that she meant to take the morning air up there instead of during a walk.
Suddenly the panic thought struck Roger that she might no longer be living in the Palace. Perhaps, by having those rumours spread about Boneparte's expressing an interest in her, he had overplayed his hand. It was just possible that Malderini had decided to remove her temporarily to some place where the General-in-Chief would see her no more and so be deprived of any opportunity of endeavouring to make her acquaintance. If so, he was in the very devil of a mess. The rage that Boneparte would fly into that evening when he learned that he had been brought all the way down to Venice for nothing was something that Roger did not care to dwell upon.
It looked now as if he would have to force his way into the Palace anyhow. If she was there, with six strong troopers to aid him he did not doubt his ability to carry her off. If she was not, then he would have to do his utmost to bribe or terrify the servants into telling him where she had been taken. The minutes, instead of dragging, were racing now, and he had just decided that, in case he had to go some distance to find her, he dare not put off raiding the Palace after half-past, when the bells tolled the quarter. At that moment the gondoliers appeared, and the Princess and Pietro followed them out almost immediately afterwards.
Catching his breath with relief, Roger gave the word to untie the barge and scrambled back across the thwarts into its stern. He had no need to give any further orders; Lieutenant Bouvard knew what had to be done. The barge shot out from its lurking-place and turned up the Grand Canal. Sirisha was just settling down in the cabin of the gondola. It pushed off and headed for the San Samuele steps opposite. By the time it reached mid-canal, the barge was only twenty yards from it, coming on fast and heading for its beam. The gondoliers gave their recognised long-drawn cries to take care. Seeing that no notice was being taken of them, they shouted frantic warnings. The barge held its course until six feet from the gondola, then Bouvard threw his tiller right over. The bow veered sharply round and struck the gondola hard just abaft its high key-like prow. The shock caused the gondolier standing on its peak, with the boat-hook ready in his hands to pull her into the steps, to lose his balance. Shouting vitriolic abuse at the clumsiness of Frenchmen, he went over backwards; his spate of words was suddenly cut off as his head went under water.
Next moment the two craft swung round side by side. The French sailors nearest the gondola seized it and held it. A soldier in the stern raised his musket and gave the gondolier holding the sweep a sharp prod with the end of its barrel; he too, went overboard. Roger and two more of the soldiers jumped into the gondola amidships. Pietro had been sitting just outside the cabin. He had had the sense to remain seated until after the shock, but now he was on his feet and had whipped a stiletto out from his waistband. One of the soldiers clubbed his musket and swiped sideways with it at Pietro's arm. With a howl of pain he dropped the long glittering blade. Roger was tempted to kill him, but decided to give him the benefit of a chance, because he had had the courage to show fight in defence of his master's wife. With all his force, he drove his fist into Pietro's stomach. Malderini's skull-headed servitor doubled up and, his eyes starting from his head, collapsed backwards, heels over head, into the water. With not a breath of air left in his lungs, he might come up, or he might not. Roger wasted no time in waiting to see; he plunged into the cabin.