THE PIRATES OF SEGNA. 413 



down the Adriatic, especially those coming from the 

 Ionian islands, in hope of meeting with a Venetian of 

 rank. Xor did they pursue their researches upon the 

 water alone. Xot a night passed that one or other of 

 the islands was not lighted up by the blaze of villages, 

 hamlets, and villas. In the absence of Dansowich, 

 there was no restraint upon their fury ; and urged on 

 by the bloodthirsty Jurissa, the cruelties they com- 

 mitted were unprecedented even in their sanguinary 

 annals. Xor were they without hope that the bar- 

 barities they were perpetrating might induce the Vene- 

 tians to restore their leader to liberty, in order that 

 he might, as was well known to be his wont, check 

 the excesses of his followers. 



The outbreak of the pirates had been so sudden 

 and unexpected, that the Proveditore, who sailed from 

 Venice on the same day on which it occurred, had 

 received no intelligence of it, and, unconscious of his 

 peril, steered straight for the islands. One circum- 

 stance alone appeared strange to him, which was, that 

 during the last part of his voyage he did not meet a 

 single vessel, although the quarter of the Adriatic 

 through which he was passing was usiially crowded 

 with shipping. But he was far from attributing this 

 extraordinary change to its real cause. 



It was afternoon when Marcello's galley came in 

 sight of the white cliffs of Cherso, and shortly after- 

 wards entered the channel, running between that 

 island and Veglia. The masses of dark clouds in the 



