before I obtained any result; but whenever I felt
my strength failing as I worked, I heard the chink of gold, I saw gold
spread before me, I was dazzled by diamonds.--Ah! wait.

"One night my blunted steel struck on wood. I whetted the fragment of my
blade and cut a hole; I crept on my belly like a serpent; I worked naked
and mole-fashion, my hands in front of me, using the stone itself to
gain a purchase. I was to appear before my judges in two days' time, I
made a final effort, and that night I bored through the wood and felt
that there was space beyond.

"Judge of my surprise when I applied my eye to the hole. I was in the
ceiling of a vault, heaps of gold were dimly visible in the faint light.
The Doge himself and one of the Ten stood below; I could hear their
voices and sufficient of their talk to know that this was the Secret
Treasury of the Republic, full of the gifts of Doges and reserves
of booty called the Tithe of Venice from the spoils of military
expeditions. I was saved!

"When the jailer came I proposed that he should help me to escape and
fly with me, and that we should take with us as much as we could carry.
There was no reason for hesitation; he agreed. Vessels were about
to sail for the Levant. All possible precautions were taken. Bianca
furthered the schemes which I suggested to my accomplice. It was
arranged that Bianca should only rejoin us in Smyrna for fear of
exciting suspicion. In a single night the hole was enlarged, and we
dropped down into the Secret Treasury of Venice.

"What a night that was! Four great casks full of gold stood there. In
the outer room silver pieces were piled in heaps, leaving a gangway
between by which to cross the chamber. Banks of silver coins surrounded
the walls to the height of five feet.

"I thought the jailer would go mad. He sang and laughed and danced and
capered among the gold, till I threatened to strangle him if he made a
sound or wasted time. In his joy he did not notice at first the table
where the diamonds lay. I flung myself upon these, and deftly filled the
pockets of my sailor jacket and trousers with the stones. Ah! Heaven, I
did not take the third of them. Gold ingots lay underneath the table. I
persuaded my companion to fill as many bags as we could carry with the
gold, and made him understand that this was our only chance of escaping
detection abroad.

"'Pearls, rubies, and diamonds might be recognized,' I told him.

"Covetous though we were