rained to finest tempered arms to quell
the resistance which no Venetian would dare offer with those letters on
the prow; the gold and scarlet banner of San Marco, for good fortune, at
her masthead; the wind swelling her impatient sail, as the curb but
frets the steed--_the galley of the Ten was not waiting without a
purpose_!

The shock of the boats as they passed through the lock had roused the
sleepers rudely, and Piero had time but for a swift glance of command to
Antonio, bidding him escape, when a gondola bearing the ducal colors
floated out from the sea of small waiting craft and saluted them
courteously. The dignified signor who addressed them wore the violet
robe and stole of a secretary of the Doge, and his face was the face of
that secretary in whose silken hand the gastaldo's had lain prisoned
when he took the oath of office!

Resistance was impossible.

"Messer Gastaldo," said the secretary suavely, "it hath pleased those
who have ever the welfare of Venice at heart to provide for the most
noble Lady of the Giustiniani an escort which better fitteth her rank
than the size of thy _barchetta_ permitteth, and a dwelling more
honorable than the 'Osteria del Buon Pesce,' where, in company of the
Lady Beata Tagliapietra, she hath passed the night."

The secretary paused and placidly noted the effect of his words upon
Piero, who could have gnashed his teeth for anger at those talking walls
of Venice which had betrayed him--so cautiously had he told his secret
to the Lady Beata only, in that short moonlight stroll!

At a sign from the secretary a second gondola, wearing the ducal livery
and filled with the gorgeous costumes of the palace guards, came out
from the floating mass and approached the gondola of the people, where
the Lady Marina sat trembling like a frightened fawn.

There was a struggle among the lesser craft to draw closer to this
dramatic centre; they jostled each other unceremoniously; a splash, like
a falling oar, was heard, but scarce noted in the absorbing interest of
the moment; only a bare-legged boy jumped off from a tiny fishing-skiff
near which the oar had floated, and swam with it to to the gondola from
which it had fallen--since it was this boat which was making the
carnival for them! Piero, alone, had slightly turned his head and noted
that no one now stood on the _ponte piede_ behind the felze of his
gondola.

"The galley waits to receive the noble ladies to whom I am commissioned