THE PIRATES OF SEGXA. 387 



tinguishable from the cloaked and masked figures 

 that surrounded them, easily succeeded in effecting 

 their escape. 



"NVlien Antonio, who was pushed hither and thither 

 by the mob, was able to extricate himself sufficiently 

 to get another view of the window, the invalid 

 nobleman, delivered from his assailants, had retired 

 into his apartment, while the ladder, now deserted 

 by the Uzcoques, had been cut and thrown down. 

 Desirous of escaping from this scene of confusion, 

 the young painter was making his way towards the 

 quay, close to which his gondola Avas waiting, when 

 his heart suddenly leaped within him at the sight of 

 a muffled figure that passed near him, and in which 

 he thought he recognised the mysterious old woman 

 who had of late occupied so much of his thoughts. 

 She was followed by a number of the rabble, who 

 pressed upon her with oaths and curses, asserting 

 that she was one of the party which had attacked the 

 palace of the Malipieri. 



" I saw her holding the ladder," exclaimed one 

 fellow. 



"Xay, she was climbing up it herself," cried a 

 second. 



" Strike the foul witch dead ! " shouted a score of 

 voices. 



The old woman's life was in the greatest peril, 

 when a strange and unaccountable, but at the same 

 time irresistible impulse, moved Antonio to go to her 



