386 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



Uzcoques had forgotten to include in their calcula- 

 tions. These were, first, the slavish obedience of the 

 Venetian populace to the call of their superiors an 

 obedience to which they were accustomed to sacrifice 

 every feeling and passion ; secondly, the Argus eyes 

 and omnipresent vigilance of the Secret Tribunal. 

 Scarcely was the ladder applied, when the first gush 

 of flame from the warehouses brought a deafening 

 peal from the alarm-bell ; and at the same moment, 

 the masked and armed familiars of the Venetian 

 police, rising as it seemed out of the very earth, sur- 

 rounded the ladder, and a fierce conflict began. Even 

 the watchfulness and precautions of the Inquisition, 

 however, were to a certain extent overmatched by 

 Uzcoque cunning and foresight. Had it not been 

 necessary to ring the alarm-bell on account of the 

 fire, the police, who were far the most numerous, and 

 who each moment received an accession to their 

 numbers, could scarcely have failed to capture some 

 of their opponents, and thus have ascertained to a 

 certainty what the promoters and the object of this 

 audacious attempt really were. But before they 

 could accomplish this, the small piazza where the 

 conflict was going on was thronged with the populace, 

 half intoxicated with the excitement of the scarcely 

 less serious fight they had been witnessing and 

 sharing in. In the crush and confusion that ensued, 

 familiars and Uzcoques were separated ; and the 

 latter, mingling with the crowd, and no longer dis- 



