THE PIRATES OF SEGXA. 353 



Jurissa," concluded the fat priest, wiping away the 

 perspiration which his eagerness and volubility had 

 caused to start out on his brow ; " and, in good 

 truth, I think your paltry bag of doubloons but poor 

 reward for the pains I took and the zeal I have 

 shown in your defence." 



"And wherein consists the danger, then," inter- 

 rupted Jurissa, " since your eloquence has sped so 

 well on our behalf 1 ?" 



"You do not hear me out, my son," replied the 

 priest. " The greybeards at Venice have chosen an 

 envoy who is right well informed of your small num- 

 bers, bad equipment, and cowardice in broad daylight. 

 Xay, man, never grind your teeth. I do but repeat 

 the ambassador's words, for I had stationed myself in 

 an adjoining room, and heard all that passed between 

 him and the archduke. He said moreover that, far 

 from being of . use as a bulwark against Turkish en- 

 croachments, it was you who had afforded to the 

 infidels a pretext to wrest more than one rich pro- 

 vince from Christian potentates. All this seemed to 

 make some impression upon the archduke, and to 

 plant suspicions in his mind which bode no good to 

 you and your race. For the present, the capture of 

 those two Turks, one of whom is a person of rank, is 

 testimony in your favour with his highness, to whom 

 the Crescent is an abomination. Could he follow his 

 own inclinations, he would, I fully believe, start a 

 new crusade against the followers of Mahoun. But 



