As soon as our meeting ended, each of us rushed out to meet our contacts and got whatever information we could. I did not see my friends all day, for we each went in a different direction. The sky remained overcast and dark all day long.

My mission was to contact someone for passage from Melioria to the closest port on the mainland so that we could return to Venezia. Instead of going through the village, I ran along the shoreline, and was surprised to find the German Baroness von Khr. I bowed and greeted her, hoping that she would wave me off as she has done many times. Instead, the baroness called me over to herself.

Fiorino chances on Baronessa Diogeneia Franziska Freifrau von Khr at the shore

When I drew close to the baroness I noticed that she had a very intense look about her. She is a very small woman, smaller than me, but the prince often told me that she is very exact. She used to help her husband with military strategies, and now that she is a widow, she has come to Italy. She hoped to forget the wars that took her husband, but she is always alert. Her question told me she was noticing what others perhaps did not. She asked me pointedly: Have you noticed any suspicious ships in the harbor?

No, Signora Baronessa. The harbor is very deserted right now, I told her.

The baroness looked me up and down and said: Be very, very careful, Fiorino. I have reason to believe that there are pirates landing in the cove on the north of the island: pirates of the Barbary Coast.

Pirates? Moors? I gasped.

The baroness only nodded and said in a very low tone. Be on your guard. Barbary pirates are on the lookout for boys your age to kidnap and make slaves on their ships. It is not safe to wander on the shore in these dark days.

The baroness gives a strong warning

With that, Baroness von Khr peered into the fog again. Be on your guard. Tell the others not to try anything foolish, she whispered. She said no more.