r nature, had frequently caused Dansowich
to check his followers in the atrocities they were too apt to commit.
In consequence of this interference, Strasolda suspected her father to
be more feared than liked by Jurissa Caiduch and some others of the
inferior woivodes or officers; and she apprehended that, if she
confided her plan to them, they would be more likely to thwart than to
aid her in it. The crews of the two boats which had been engaged in
the skirmish with the Venetian galleys when Dansowich was captured,
and the men composing the garrison of the castle on the evening of
that fatal occurrence, were therefore all whose assistance she could
reckon upon. Some of those were her relatives, and the others tried
and trusty adherents. They alone knew of their leader's captivity, his
absence having been accounted for to the mass of Uzcoques dwelling in
the town of Segna, by a pretended journey to Gradiska; and being too
few in number to attack a Venetian galley, the sole plan that seemed
to offer a chance of success to this handful of faithful followers,
was the hazardous one devised by Strasolda. Of this, they did not
hesitate to attempt the execution.

With the utmost cunning and audacity did the Uzcoques enter Venice on
the day appointed for the Battle of the Bridge, singly, and by twos
and threes, variously disguised, and mingled with the country people
and inhabitants of the islands who were hastening to the festival.
Watching their opportunity when the fight was at the fiercest, one
party mixed with the combatants, exciting and urging them on, and
doing all in their power to increase the confusion; others set fire to
the warehouses on the island of San Giorgio, in order to draw the
public attention in that direction; while the third and most numerous
division, favoured by the deepening twilight and the deserted state of
that part of the city, succeeded in fixing a rope ladder to the window
of the Malipieri palace, the chief of which noble house was, as they
had previously ascertained, lying sick in bed in a side-chamber,
attended only by a few domestics.

But there were two things which Strasolda and the Uzcoques had
forgotten to include in their calculations. These were, first, the
slavish obedience of the Venetian populace to the call of their
superiors--an obedience to which they were accustomed to sacrifice
every feeling and passion; secondly, the Argus eyes and omnipresent
vigilance of the Secret Tribunal