l the things of which he was accused. The fact
was not of the slightest importance in the situation. It was much more
to the point that in the complicated and dangerous plan which the Greek
captain and Arisa were carrying out, Zorzi could be of use to them,
without his own knowledge. As has been told, the two had decided that he
was in love with Marietta, and she with him. The rest followed
naturally.

After meeting his father and telling him Giovanni's story, Jacopo
Contarini had gone to the house of the Agnus Dei for an hour, and during
that time he had told Arisa everything, according to his wont. No sooner
was he gone than Arisa made the accustomed signal and Aristarchi
appeared at her window, for it was then already night. He judged rightly
that there was no time to be lost, and having stopped at his house to
take his trusted man, the two rowed themselves over to Murano, and were
watching the glass-house from, a distance, fully half an hour before the
archers appeared.

The officer and his men came to their senses, one by one, bruised and
terrified. The man who had been thrown into the shallow canal got upon
his feet, standing up to his waist in the water, sputtering and coughing
from the ducking. Before he tried to gain the shore, he crossed himself
three times and repeated all the prayers he could remember, in a great
hurry, for he was of opinion that Satan must still be in the
neighbourhood. It was not possible that any earthly being should have
picked him up like a puppy and flung him fully ten feet from the spot
where he had been standing. He struggled to the bank, his feet sinking
at each step in the slimy bottom; and after that he was forced to wade
some thirty yards to the stairs in front of San Piero before he could
get out of the water, a miserable object, drenched from head to foot and
coated with black mud from his knees down. Yet he was in a better case
than his companions.

They came to themselves slowly, the officer last of all, for
Aristarchi's blow under the jaw had nearly killed him, whereas the other
five men had only received stunning blows on different parts of their
thick skulls. In half an hour they were all on their feet, though some
of them were very unsteady, and in a forlorn train they made the best of
their way back to the Governor's palace. Their discomfiture had been so
sudden and complete that none of them had any idea as to the number of
their assailants; but most of them agreed t