406 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



clutched and tore the straw upon which he was sit- 

 ting ; and his fetters clanked as his whole frame 

 shook with rage. After a brief pause, and by a 

 strong effort, he restrained himself, and replied calmly 

 to the taunting accusation of the Venetian. 



" Why go so far," said he, " to seek for motives 

 that may be found nearer home ] You seem to have 

 forgotten how many times the archduke has com- 

 pelled us to make restitution of booty wrested from 

 Venetian subjects. You forget, too, that it was in 

 consequence of your complaints he sent the cruel 

 Kabbata to control us Eabbata Avhom we slew 

 in our wrath, for we are freemen, and brook no 

 tyranny. If we are poor individually, it is because 

 we yield up our booty into the hands of our icoi- 

 vodes, to be used for the common good of seven hun- 

 dred families. No, signer ! if the republic has to 

 complain of us, let her remember the provocations 

 received at her hands, the persecutions which con- 

 verted a band of heroes into a pirate horde, and 

 Avhich changed our holy zeal against the enemies 

 of the Cross into remorseless hatred of all mankind. 

 As to the forged seals and signatures you talk of, 

 and the deceptions practised on the Turks, if such 

 there were, they were the self-willed act of our icoi- 

 vodes, and in no way instigated by Austria." 



" Thou liest, Dansowich ! " said the Proveditore 

 sternly. " Did you not proclaim and swear in the 

 public market-place of the Austrian town of Segna, 



