THE PIRATES OF SEGXA. 389 



young painter. The crowd pressed after him, and 

 Antonio was hurried along with it to the edge of the 

 quay. But at the very moment that, to avoid being 

 pushed into the water by the throng, he sprang into 

 one end of his gondola, he saw the stranger, who had 

 just entered it at the other, gaze with a look of dis- 

 gust and dismay on the features of her he had rescued, 

 and then with a cry of horror leap into another boat, 

 which immediately rowed rapidly away. At the 

 same instant Jacopo, by a strong sweep of the oar, 

 spun the gondola round, and shot into a narrow canal, 

 which soon led them out of sight and sound of the 

 scene of confusion they had just left. 



These various events had succeeded each other so 

 rapidly, that Antonio could hardly credit his senses 

 when he found himself in this strange manner the 

 deliverer of the mysterious being who now sat under 

 the awning of his gondola, her frightful countenance, 

 unveiled in the struggle and no longer seen tlirough 

 the beautifying prism of the young artist's imagina- 

 tion, again displaying the yellow and wrinkled skin, 

 and the deep-set glittering eyes, which now seemed 

 fixed upon him with an expression of love and grati- 

 tude that froze his blood. With a shuddering sen- 

 sation he retreated to the stern of the boat, where 

 Jacopo stood pale and trembling, crossing himself 

 without a moment's intermission. 



" Are you mad, signore," whispered the gondolier, 

 " to risk your life in behalf of such a frightful witch ] 



