416 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



fatally effective volley of musketry ; and then, 

 throwing down their firearms, the pirates grasped 

 their sabres and made violent efforts to board. But 

 each tune that they succeeded in closing, the plung- 

 ing of the ponderous galley into the trough of the 

 sea, or the rising of some huge wave, severed them 

 from their prey, and prevented them from setting 

 foot on the decks of the Venetian vessel. This 

 delay was made the most of by the officers of the 

 latter in making arrangements for defence. The 

 Proveditore himself, a man of tried and chivalrous 

 courage, and great experience both in land and sea 

 warfare, lent his personal aid to the preparations, and 

 in a few pithy and emphatic words strove to encourage 

 the crew to a gallant resistance. But the soldiers 

 and mariners who manned the galley had already 

 sustained a heavy loss by the fire of the Uzcoques, 

 and were moreover alarmed by their near approach to 

 that perilous shore, as well as disheartened by the 

 prospect of a contest with greatly superior numbers. 

 Although some few took to their arms and occupied 

 the posts assigned them by their officers, the majority 

 seemed more disposed to tell beads and mutter 

 'prayers than to display the energy and decision 

 which alone could rescue them from the double peril 

 by which they were menaced. The pirates mean- 

 while were constantly foiled in their attempts to 

 board by the fury of the elements, till at last, be- 

 coming maddened by repeated disappointments, they 



