412 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



the archduke of the criminal collusion between his 

 counsellors and the Uzcoques. This would be the 

 signal for the withdrawal of the archducal protection 

 from the pirates, who then, exposed to the vengeance 

 of all whom they had plundered, must inevitably suc- 

 cumb in the unequal conflict that would ensue. 



The imminence of the peril inspired the Uzcoques 

 with unwonted courage and energy. Jurissa Caiduch 

 himself, forgetting any cause of dislike he might have 

 to Dansowich, joined heart and hand in the plans 

 formed by the pirates for the deliverance of their 

 leader. Every man in Segna, whether young or old, 

 all who could wield a cimeter or clutch a knife, hastily 

 armed themselves, and crowded into the fleet of long 

 light skiffs in which they were wont to make their pre- 

 datory excursions. Then breaking furiously through 

 the line of Venetian ships, stationed between Yeglia 

 and the mainland, and which were totally unprepared 

 for this sudden and daring manoeuvre, they disap- 

 peared amidst the shoals and in the small creeks and 

 inlets of the Dalmatian islands belonging to the re- 

 public, where the ponderous Venetian galleys would 

 vainly attempt to follow them. Their object was the 

 'same which they had already attempted to carry out 

 in Venice on the day of the Bridge Fight ; namely, 

 to seize upon some Venetian magistrate or person of 

 importance whom they might exchange for Danso- 

 wich. Under the guidance of Jurissa Caiduch they 

 waylaid and boarded every vessel that passed up or 



