d in the proceedings. Pasquale, dumb
with rage at last, stood in the doorway.

"Let me pass," said Giovanni, as soon as the archers had gone on a few
steps, surrounding Zorzi.

With a growl, Pasquale came out and stood on the pavement a moment, and
Giovanni went in. Instantly, the man who had lingered made a step
towards the porter, whispered something in his ear, and then made off as
fast as he could in the direction taken by the archers. Pasquale looked
after him in surprise, only half understanding the meaning of what he
had said. Then he went in, but left the door ajar. The people who had
been looking out of the windows of Beroviero's house had disappeared,
when they had seen that Giovanni was on the footway. All was silent now;
only, far off, the tramp of the archers could still be heard.

They could not go very fast, with Zorzi in their midst, but the two men
who were busy unfastening the bundle of halberds lagged in the rear,
talking in a low voice. They did not notice quick footsteps behind them,
but they heard a low whistle, answered instantly by another, just as the
main party was nearing the corner by the church of San Piero. That was
the last the two loiterers remembered, for at the next instant they lay
in a heap upon the halberds, which had fallen upon the pavement with a
tremendous clatter. A couple of well-delivered blows with a stout stick
had thoroughly stunned them almost at the same instant. It would be some
time before they recovered their senses.

While the man who had whispered to Pasquale was doing effectual work in
the rear, his companion was boldly attacking the main party in front. As
the lieutenant stopped short and turned his head when the halberds
dropped, a blow under the jaw from a fist like a sledge hammer almost
lifted him off his feet and sent him reeling till he fell senseless,
half-a-dozen paces away. Before the two archers who were guarding Zorzi
could defend themselves, unarmed as they were, another blow had felled
one of them. The second, springing forward, was caught up like a child
by his terrible assailant and whirled through the air, to fall with a
noisy splash into the shallow waters of the canal. The other companion
attacked the remaining two from behind with his club and knocked one of
them down. The last sprang to one side and ran on a few steps as fast as
he could. But swifter feet followed him, and in an instant iron fingers
were clutching his throat and squeezing his