squares of the town, murder the
leading men of the Seignory, and proclaim the Doge sovereign Duke of
Venice.

But it was not the will of Heaven that this murderous scheme should
succeed, nor that the fundamental constitution of the harassed state
should be trampled in the dust by old Falieri--a man inflamed with
pride and haughtiness. The meetings in Falieri's house on Giudecca had
not escaped the watchfulness of the Ten; but they failed altogether to
learn any reliable intelligence. But the conscience of one of the
conspirators, a fur-merchant of Pisa, Bentian by name, pricked him; he
resolved to save from destruction his friend and gossip, Nicolas
Leoni, a member of the Council of Ten. When twilight came on, he went
to him and besought him not to leave his house during the night, no
matter what occurred. Leoni's suspicion was aroused; he detained the
fur-merchant, and on pressing him closely learned the whole scheme. In
conjunction with Giovanni Gradenigo and Marco Cornaro he called the
Council of Ten together in St. Salvador's (church); and there, in less
than three hours, measures were taken calculated to stifle all the
efforts of the conspirators on the first sign of movement.

Antonio's commission was to take a body of men and go to St. Mark's
Tower, and see that the bell was tolled. Arrived there, he found the
tower occupied by a large force of Arsenal troops, who, on his
attempting to approach, charged upon him with their halberds. His own
band, seized with a sudden panic, scattered like chaff; and he himself
slipped away in the darkness of the night. But he heard the footsteps
of a man following close at his heels; he felt him lay hands upon him,
and he was just on the point of cutting his pursuer down when by means
of a sudden flash of light he recognised Pietro. "Save yourself," cried
he, "save yourself, Antonio,--here in my gondola. All is betrayed.
Bodoeri--Nenolo--are in the power of the Seignory; the doors of the
Ducal Palace are closed; the Doge is confined a prisoner in his own
apartment--watched like a criminal by his own faithless guards. Come
along--make haste--get away." Almost stupefied, Antonio suffered
himself to be dragged into the gondola. Muffled voices--the clash of
weapons--single cries for help--then with the deepest blackness of the
night there followed a breathless awful silence. Next morning the
populace, stricken with terror, beheld a fearful sight; it made every
man's blood run cold