hast said nothing of the cargo?"

"'Twill not be so weighty in bulk as in value," carelessly answered
Jacopo, shoving his gondola from the side of the felucca. The fall of
his oar into the water succeeded, and as Stefano stood, meditating the
chances of his speculation on his deck, the boat glided away towards the
quay with a swift but easy movement.

Deceit, like the windings of that subtle animal the fox, often crosses
its own path. It consequently throws out those by whom it is practised,
as well as those who art meant to be its victims. When Jacopo parted
from Don Camillo, it was with an understanding that he should adopt all
the means that his native sagacity or his experience might suggest, to
ascertain in what manner the council intended to dispose of the person
of Donna Yioletta. They had separated on the Lido, and as none knew of
their interview but him, and none would probably suspect their recent
alliance, the Bravo entered on his new duty with some chances of
success, that might otherwise have been lost. A change of its agents, in
affairs of peculiar delicacy, was one of the ordinary means taken by the
Republic to avoid investigation. Jacopo had often been its instrument
in negotiating with the mariner, who, as has been so plainly intimated,
had frequently been engaged in carrying into effect its secret, and
perhaps justifiable measures of police; but in no instance had it ever
been found necessary to interpose a second agent between the
commencement and the consummation of its bargains, except in this. He
had been ordered to see the padrone, and to keep him in preparation for
immediate service; but since the examination of Antonio before the
council, his employers had neglected to give him any further
instructions. The danger of leaving the bride within reach of the agents
of Don Camillo was so obvious, that this unusual caution had been
considered necessary. It was under this disadvantage, therefore, that
Jacopo entered on the discharge of his new and important duties.

That cunning, as has just been observed, is apt to overreach itself, has
passed into a proverb; and the case of Jacopo and his employers was one
in point to prove its truth. The unusual silence of those who ordinarily
sought him on similar occasions, had not been lost on the agent; and the
sight of the felucca, as he strayed along the quays, gave an accidental
direction to his inquiries. The manner in which they were aided by the
cupidit