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recover his self-possession, and to form some hasty plans for the
future. Making a signal for the crew to cease rowing, he came from
beneath the canopy. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, boats were
plying on the water within the town, and the song was still audible on
the canals. But among the mariners a general stillness prevailed, such
as befitted their toil during the day, and their ordinary habits.
"Call the first idle gondolier of thy acquaintance hither, Gino," said
Don Camillo, with assumed calmness; "I would question him."
In less than a minute he was gratified.
"Hast seen any strongly manned gondola plying, of late, in this part of
the canal?" demanded Don Camillo, of the man they had stopped.
"None, but this of your own, Signore; which is the fastest of all that
passed beneath the Rialto in this day's regatta."
"How knowest thou, friend, aught of the speed of my boat?"
"Signore, I have pulled an oar on the canals of Venice six-and-twenty
years, and I do not remember to have seen a gondola move more swiftly on
them than did this very boat but a few minutes ago, when it dashed among
the feluccas, further down in the port, as if it were again running for
the oar. Corpo di Bacco! There are rich wines in the palaces of the
nobles, that men can give such life to wood!"
"Whither did we steer?" eagerly asked Don Camillo.
"Blessed San Teodoro! I do not wonder, eccellenza, that you ask that
question, for though it is but a moment since, here I see you lying as
motionless on the water as a floating weed!"
"Friend, here is silver--addio."
The gondolier swept slowly onwards, singing a strain in honor of his
bark, while the boat of Don Camillo darted ahead. Mystic, felucca,
xebec, brigantine, and three-masted ship, were apparently floating past
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them, as they shot through the maze of shipping, when Gino bent forward
and drew the attention of his master to a large gondola, which was
pulling with a lazy oar towards them, from the direction of the Lido.
Both boats were in a wide avenue in the midst of the vessels, the usual
track of those who went to sea, and there was no object whatever between
them. By changing the course of his own boat, Don Camillo soon found
himself within an oar's length of the other. He saw, at a glance, it was
the treacherous gondola by which he had been duped.
"Draw, men, and follow!" shouted the desperate Neapolitan, preparing to
leap into the midst of his enemies.
"You draw against St. Mark!" cried a warning voice from beneath the
canopy. "The chances are unequal, Signore; for the smallest signal would
bring twenty galleys to our succor."
Don Camillo might have disregarded this menace, had he not perceived
that it caused the half-drawn rapiers of his followers to return to
their scabbards.
"Robber!" he answered, "restore her whom you have spirited away."
"Signore, you young nobles are often pleased to play your extravagances
with the servants of the Republic. Here are none but the gondoliers and
myself." A movement of the boat permitted Don Camillo to look into the
covered part, and he saw that the other uttered no more than the truth.
Convinced of the uselessness of further parley, knowing the value of
every moment, and believing he was on a track which might still lead to
success, the young Neapolitan signed to his people to go on. The boats
parted in silence, that of Don Camillo proceeding in the direction from
which the other had just come.
In a short time the gondola of Don Camillo was in an open part of the
Giudecca, and entirely beyond the tiers of the shipping. It was so late
that the moon had begun to fall, and its light was cast obliquely on the
bay, throwing the eastern sides of the buildings and the other objects
into shadow. A dozen different vessels were seen, aided by the
land-breeze, steering towards the entrance of the port. The rays of the
moon fell upon the broad surface of those sides of their canvas which
were nearest to the town, and they resembled so many spotless clouds,
sweeping the water and floating seaward.
"They are sending my wife to Dalmatia!" cried Don Camillo, like a man
on whom the truth began to dawn.
"Signore mio!" exclaimed the astonished Gino.
"I tell thee, sirrah, that this accursed Senate hath plotted against my
happiness, and having robbed me of thy mistress, hath employed one of
the many feluccas that I see, to transport her to some of its
strongholds on the eastern coast of the Adriatic."
"Blessed Maria! Signor Duca, and my honored master; they say that the
very images of stone in Venice have ears, and that the horses of bronze
will kick, if an evil word is spoken against those up above."
"Is it not enough, varlet, to draw curses from the meek Job, to rob him
of a wife? Hast thou no feeling for thy mistres?'
"I did not dream, eccellenza, that you were so happy as to have the one,
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or that I was so honored as to have the other."
"Thou remindest me of my folly, good Gino. In aiding me on this
occasion, thou wilt have thy own fortune in view, as thy efforts, like
those of thy fellows, will be made in behalf of the lady to whom I have
just plighted a husband's vows."
"San Theodoro help us all, and hint what is to be done! The lady is most
happy, Signor Don Camillo, and if I only knew by what name to mention
her she should never be forgotten in any prayer that so humble a sinner
might dare to offer."
"Thou hast not forgotten the beautiful lady I drew from the Giudecca?"
"Corpo di Bacco! Your eceellenza floated like a swan, and swam faster
than a gull. Forgotten! Signore, no,--I think of it every time I hear a
plash in the canals, and every time I think of it I curse the Ancona-man
in my heart. St. Theodore forgive me if it be unlike a Christian to do
so. But, though we all tell marvels of what our Lord did in the
Giudecca, the dip of its waters is not the marriage ceremony, nor can we
speak with much certainty of beauty that was seen to so great
disadvantage."
"Thou art right, Gino. But that lady, the illustrious Donna Violetta
Tiepolo, the daughter and heiress of a famed senator, is now thy
mistress. It remains for us to establish her in the Castle of Sant'
Agata, where I shall defy Venice and its agents."
Gino bowed his head in submission, though he cast a look behind to make
sure that none of those agents, whom his master set so openly at
defiance, were within ear-shot.
In the meantime the gondola proceeded, for the dialogue in no manner
interrupted the exertions of Gino, still holding the direction of the
Lido. As the land-breeze freshened, the different vessels in sight
glided away, and by the time Don Camillo reached the barrier of sand
which separates the Lagunes from the Adriatic, most of them had glided
through the passages, and were now shaping their courses, according to
their different destinations, across the open gulf. The young noble had
permitted his people to pursue the direction originally taken, in pure
indecision. He was certain that his bride was in one of the many barques
in sight, but he possessed no clue to lead him towards the right one,
nor any sufficient means of pursuit were he even master of that
important secret. When he landed, therefore, it was with the simple hope
of being able to form some general conjecture as to the portion of the
Republic's dominions in which he might search for her he had lost, by
observing to what part of the Adriatic the different feluccas held their
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