ecorations were magnificent,
and large pictures, representing events in the wars of Venice, hung
round the walls. The ceiling was also superbly painted. The cornices
were heavily gilded. Curtains of worked tapestry hung by the windows,
and fell behind him as he entered the door.

At a table of horseshoe shape eleven councillors, clad in the long
scarlet robes, trimmed with ermine, which were the distinguishing dress
of Venetian senators, were seated--the doge himself acting as
president. On their heads they wore black velvet caps, flat at the top,
and in shape somewhat resembling the flat Scotch bonnet. Signor Polani
and his companions were seated in chairs, facing the table.

When Francis entered the gondolier was giving evidence as to the attack
upon his boat. Several questions were asked him when he had finished,
and he was then told to retire. The usher then brought Francis forward.

"This is Messer Francisco Hammond," he said.

"Tell your story your own way," the doge said.

Francis related the story of the attack on the gondola, and the escape
of the ladies in his boat.

"How came you, a foreigner and a youth, to interfere in a fray of this
kind?" one of the councillors asked.

"I did not stop to think of my being a stranger, or a youth," Francis
replied quietly. "I heard the screams of women in distress, and felt
naturally bound to render them what aid I could."

"Did you know who the ladies were?"

"I knew them only by sight. My friend Matteo Giustiniani had pointed
them out to me, on one occasion, as being the daughters of Signor
Polani, and connections of his. When their gondola had passed mine, a
few minutes previously, I recognized their faces by the light of the
torches in their boat."

"Were the torches burning brightly?" another of the council asked;
"because it may be that this attack was not intended against them, but
against some others."

"The light was bright enough for me to recognize their faces at a
glance," Francis said, "and also the yellow and white sashes of their
gondoliers."

"Did you see any badge or cognizance, either on the gondola or on the
persons of the assailants?"

"I did not," Francis said. "They certainly wore none. One of the
torches in the Polani gondola had been extinguished in the fray, but
the other was still burning, and, had the gondoliers worn coloured
sashes or other distinguishing marks, I should have noticed them."

"Should you recognize, were you to se