320 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AXD SPORT. 



shores and islands of the Adriatic. At the utter- 

 ance of that fearful name, young girls crowded 

 together like frightened doves ; the child hid its 

 terrified face in its mother's lap; the eyes of the 

 matron overflowed with tears as the images of mur- 

 dered sons and outraged daughters passed before her 

 mind's eye, and, like Banquo's ghost, filled the vacant 

 seats at the table ; while the men gazed anxiously 

 out, expecting to see their granaries and store-houses 

 in flames. Nor were the seaman's apprehensions less 

 lively, when night surprised him with some valuable 

 cargo in the neighbourhood of the pirates' haunts. 

 Every rock, each tree and bush, became an object of 

 dread : the very ripple of the waves on the shingle a 

 sound of alarm. To his terrified fancy, a few leafless 

 and projecting branches assumed the appearance of 

 muskets, a point of rock became the prow of one of 

 those light, sharp-built boats in which the Uzcoques 

 were wont to dart like sea-birds upon their prey ; 

 and, invoking his patron saint, the frightened sailor 

 crossed himself, and with a turn of the rudder brought 

 liis vessel yet nearer to the Venetian galleys that 

 escorted the convoy. 



At the cry "Uzcoque" the slender active Albanian 

 grasped his firelock, with rage and hatred expressed 

 on his bearded countenance : the phlegmatic Turk 

 sprang with unwonted haste from his carpet ; his 

 pipe and coffee were neglected, his women and treas- 

 ures secured in the harem, while he shouted for the 



