uence of
the outrageous piracies committed by the Uzcoques during the Easter
festival, and was a measure frequently adopted by the republic; which,
although carefully avoiding a war, neglected no other means of
enforcing their applications to the court at Gradiska for an energetic
interference in the proceedings of the pirates. The inconvenience and
interruption to the trade of Fiume occasioned by these blockades,
usually induced the archducal government to institute a pretended
investigation into the conduct of the Uzcoques, or at least to promise
the Venetians some reparation--a mockery of satisfaction with which
the latter, in their then state of decline and weakness, were fain to
content themselves. Reckoning upon the terror inspired by the presence
of the squadron now employed in the blockade, as well as upon its
support, should he require it, the Proveditore made sure of success.
He was doomed, however, to be cruelly disappointed in his sanguine
anticipations.

When the attempt to get possession of the person of a Venetian
nobleman had failed, Strasolda found it impossible to keep her
father's captivity any longer a secret, and was compelled to appeal to
the whole of the Uzcoques to assist her in his deliverance.
Information of the woivode's recognition, and of the tortures he had
suffered, soon reached the ears of the pirates, who were not slow to
perceive that the safety, and even the existence of their tribe, were
now at stake. Although well acquainted with the inflexible character
of Dansowich, they trembled lest the agonies he was made to suffer
should force from him a confession, which would enable the Venetians
to convince the archduke of the criminal collusion between his
counsellors and the Uzcoques. This would be the signal for the
withdrawal of the archducal protection from the pirates, who then,
exposed to the vengeance of all whom they had plundered, must
inevitably succumb in the unequal conflict that would ensue.

The imminence of the peril inspired the Uzcoques with unwonted courage
and energy. Jurissa Caiduch himself, forgetting any cause of dislike
he might have to Dansowich, joined heart and hand in the plans formed
by the pirates for the deliverance of their leader. Every man in
Segna, whether young or old, all who could wield a cimeter or clutch a
knife, hastily armed themselves, and crowded into the fleet of long
light skiffs in which they were wont to make their predatory
excursions. Then