The Bravo (19 page)

"It is the boast of our glorious Republic," he said, "that the rights of
none are disregarded; that the lowly receive their merited rewards as
surely as the great; that St. Mark holds the balance with an even hand,
and that this obscure fisherman, having deserved the honors of this
regatta, will receive them with the same readiness on the part of him
who bestows, as if he were the most favored follower of our own house.
Nobles and burghers of Venice, learn to prize your excellent and equable
laws in this occasion, for it is most in acts of familiar and common
usage that the paternal character of a government is seen, since in
matters of higher moment the eyes of a world impel a compliance with its
own opinions."

The Doge delivered these preliminary remarks in a firm tone, like one
confident of his auditors' applause. He was not deceived. No sooner had
he done, than a murmur of approbation passed through the assembly, and
extended itself to thousands who were beyond the sound of his voice, and
to more who were beyond the reach of his meaning. The senators bent
their heads in acknowledgment of the justice of what their chief had
uttered, and the latter, having waited to gather these signs of an
approving loyalty, proceeded.

"It is my duty, Antonio, and, being a duty, it hath become a pleasure to
place around thy neck this golden chain. The oar which it bears is an
emblem of thy skill; and among thy associates it will be a mark of the
Republic's favor and impartiality, and of thy merit. Take it, then,
vigorous old man, for though age hath thinned thy temples and furrowed
thy cheek, it hath scarcely affected thy wonderful sinews and hardy
courage!"

"Highness!" observed Antonio, recoiling apace, when he found that he was
expected to stoop, in order that the bauble might be bestowed, "I am not
fit to bear about me such a sign of greatness and good fortune. The
glitter of the gold would mock my poverty, and a jewel which comes from
so princely a hand would be ill placed on a naked bosom."

This unexpected refusal caused a general surprise, and a momentary
pause.

"Thou hast not entered on the struggle, fisherman, without a view to its
prize? But thou sayest truly, the golden ornament would, indeed, but ill
befit thy condition and daily wants. Wear it for the moment, since it is
meet that all should know the justice and impartiality of our decisions,
and bring it to my treasurer when the sports are done; he will make such
an exchange as better suits thy wishes. There is precedent for this
practice, and it shall be followed."

"Illustrious Highness! I did not trust my old limbs in so hard a strife
without hopes of a reward. But it was not gold, nor any vanity to be
seen among my equals with that glittering jewel, that led me to meet the
scorn of the gondoliers, and the displeasure of the great."

"Thou art deceived, honest fisherman, if thou supposest that we regard
thy just ambition with displeasure. We love to see a generous emulation
among our people, and take all proper means to encourage those aspiring
spirits who bring honor to a state, and fortune to our shores."

"I pretend not to place my poor thoughts against those of my Prince,"
answered the fisherman; "my fears and shame have led me to believe that
it would give more pleasure to the noble and gay had a younger and
happier borne away this honor."

"Thou must not think this. Bend then thy knee, that I may bestow the
prize. When the sun sets thou wilt find those in my palace who will
relieve thee of the ornament at a just remuneration."

"Highness!" said Antonio, looking earnestly at the Doge, who again
arrested his movement in surprise, "I am old, and little wont to be
spoilt by fortune. For my wants, the Lagunes, with the favor of the Holy
St. Anthony, are sufficient; but it is in thy power to make the last
days of an old man happy, and to have thy name remembered in many an
honest and well meant prayer. Grant me back my child, forget the
boldness of a heart-broken father!"

"Is not this he who urged us with importunity concerning a youth that is
gone into the service of the state?" exclaimed the Prince, across whose
countenance passed that expression of habitual reserve which so often
concealed the feelings of the man.

"The same," returned a cold voice, which the ear of Antonio well knew
came from the Signor Gradenigo.

"Pity for thy ignorance, fisherman, represses our anger. Receive thy
chain, and depart."

Antonio's eye did not waver. He kneeled with an air of profound respect,
and folding his hands on his bosom, he said—

"Misery has made me bold, dread Prince! What I say comes from a heavy
heart rather than from a licentious tongue, and I pray your royal ear to
listen with indulgence."

"Speak briefly, for the sports are delayed."

"Mighty Doge! riches and poverty have caused a difference in our
fortunes, which knowledge and ignorance have made wider. I am rude in my
discourse, and little suited to this illustrious company. But, Signore,
God hath given to the fisherman the same feelings, and the same love for
his offspring, as he has given to a prince. Did I place dependence only
on the aid of my poor learning, I should now be dumb, but there is a
strength within that gives me courage to speak to the first and noblest
in Venice in behalf of my child!"

"Thou canst not impeach the senate's justice, old man, or utter aught in
truth against the known impartiality of the laws?"

"Sovrano mio! deign to listen, and you shall hear. I am what your eyes
behold—a man, poor, laborious, and drawing near to the hour when he
shall be called to the side of the blessed St. Anthony of Rimini, and
stand in a presence even greater than this. I am not vain enough to
think that my humble name is to be found among those of the patricians
who have served the Republic in her wars—that is an honor which none
but the great, and the noble, and the happy, can claim; but if the
little I have done for my country is not in the Golden Book, it is
written here," as Antonio spoke, he pointed to the scars on his
half-naked form; "these are signs of the enmity of the Turk, and I now
offer them as so many petitions to the bounty of the senate."

"Thou speakest vaguely. What is thy will?"

"Justice, mighty Prince. They have forced the only vigorous branch from
the dying trunk—they have lopped the withering stem of its most
promising shoot—they have exposed the sole companion of my labors and
pleasures, the child to whom I have looked to close my eyes, when it
shall please God to call me away, untaught, and young in lessons of
honesty and virtue, a boy in principle as in years, to all the
temptation, and sin, and dangerous companionship of the galleys!"

"Is this all? I had thought thy gondola in the decay, or thy right to
use the Lagunes in question!"

"Is this all?" repeated Antonio, looking around him in bitter
melancholy. "Doge of Venice, it is more than one, old, heart-stricken,
and bereaved, can bear?"

"Go to; take thy golden chain and oar, and depart among thy fellows in
triumph. Gladden thy heart at a victory, on which thou could'st not, in
reason, have counted, and leave the interests of the state to those that
are wiser than thee, and more fitted to sustain its cares."

The fisherman arose with an air of rebuked submission, the result of a
long life passed in the habit of political deference; but he did not
approach to receive the proffered reward.

"Bend thy head, fisherman, that his Highness may bestow the prize,"
commanded an officer.

"I ask not for gold, nor any oar, but that which carries me to the
Lagunes in the morning, and brings me back into the canals at night.
Give me my child, or give me nothing."

"Away with him!" muttered a dozen voices; "he utters sedition! let him
quit the galley."

Antonio was hurried from the presence, and forced into his gondola with
very unequivocal signs of disgrace. This unwonted interruption of the
ceremonies clouded many a brow, for the sensibilities of a Venetian
noble were quick, indeed, to reprehend the immorality of political
discontent, though the conventional dignity of the class suppressed all
other ill-timed exhibition of dissatisfaction.

"Let the next competitor draw near," continued the sovereign, with a
composure that constant practice in dissimulation rendered easy.

The unknown waterman to whose secret favor Antonio owed his success,
approached, still concealed by the licensed mask.

"Thou art the gainer of the second prize," said the Prince, "and were
rigid justice done, thou should'st receive the first also, since our
favor is not to be rejected with impunity. Kneel, that I may bestow the
favor."

"Highness, pardon!" observed the masker, bowing with great respect, but
withdrawing a single step from the offered reward; "if it be your
gracious will to grant a boon for the success of the regatta, I too have
to pray that it may be given in another form."

"This is unusual! It is not wont that prizes, offered by the hand of a
Venetian Doge, should go a-begging."

"I would not seem to press more than is respectful, in this great
presence. I ask but little, and, in the end, it may cost the Republic
less, than that which is now offered."

"Name it."

"I, too, and on my knee, in dutiful homage to the chief of the state,
beg that the prayer of the old fisherman be heard, and that the father
and son may be restored to each other, for the service will corrupt the
tender years of the boy, and make the age of his parent miserable."

"This touches on importunity! Who art thou, that comest in this hidden
manner, to support a petition once refused?"

"Highness—the second victor in the ducal regatta."

"Dost trifle in thy answers? The protection of a mask, in all that does
not tend to unsettle the peace of the city, is sacred. But here seemeth
matter to be looked into. Remove thy disguise, that we see thee eye to
eye."

"I have heard that he who kept civil speech, and in naught offended
against the laws, might be seen at will, disguised in Venice, without
question of his affairs or name."

"Most true, in all that does not offend St. Mark. But here is a concert
worthy of inquiry: I command thee, unmask."

The waterman, reading in every face around him the necessity of
obedience, slowly withdrew the means of concealment, and discovered the
pallid countenance and glittering eyes of Jacopo. An involuntary
movement of all near, left this dreaded person standing singly,
confronted with the Prince of Venice, in a wide circle of wondering and
curious listeners.

"I know thee not!" exclaimed the Doge, with an open amazement that
proved his sincerity, after regarding the other earnestly for a moment.
"Thy reasons for the disguise should be better than thy reasons for
refusing the prize."

The Signor Gradenigo drew near to the sovereign, and whispered in his
ear. When he had done, the latter cast one look, in which curiosity and
aversion were in singular union, at the marked countenance of the Bravo,
and then he silently motioned to him to depart. The throng drew about
the royal person with instinctive readiness, closing the space in his
front.

"We shall look into this at our leisure," said the Doge. "Let the
festivities proceed."

Jacopo bowed low, and withdrew. As he moved along the deck of the
Bucentaur, the senators made way, as if pestilence was in his path,
though it was quite apparent, by the expression of their faces, that it
was in obedience to a feeling of a mixed character. The avoided, but
still tolerated Bravo descended to his gondola, and the usual signals
were given to the multitude beneath, who believed the customary
ceremonies were ended.

"Let the gondolier of Don Camillo Monforte stand forth," cried a herald,
obedient to the beck of a superior.

"Highness, here," answered Gino, troubled and hurried.

"Thou art of Calabria?"

"Highness, yes."

"But of long practice on our Venetian canals or thy gondola could never
have outstripped those of the readiest oarsmen. Thou servest a noble
master?"

"Highness, yes."

"And it would seem that the Duke of St. Agata is happy in the possession
of an honest and faithful follower?"

"Highness, too happy."

"Kneel, and receive the reward of thy resolution and skill."

Gino, unlike those who had preceded him, bent a willing knee to the
deck, and took the prize with a low and humble inclination of the body.
At this moment the attention of the spectators was drawn from the short
and simple ceremony by a loud shout, which arose from the water at no
great distance from the privileged bark of the senate. A common movement
drew all to the side of the galley, and the successful gondolier was
quickly forgotten.

A hundred boats were moving in a body towards the Lido, while the space
they covered on the water presented one compact mass of the red caps of
fishermen. In the midst of this marine picture was seen the bare head of
Antonio, borne along in the floating multitude, without any effort of
his own. The general impulsion was received from the vigorous arms of
some thirty or forty of their number, who towed those in the rear by
applying their force to three or four large gondolas in advance.

There was no mistaking the object of this singular and characteristic
procession. The tenants of the Lagunes, with the fickleness with which
extreme ignorance acts on human passions, had suddenly experienced a
violent revolution in their feelings towards their ancient comrade. He
who, an hour before, had been derided as a vain and ridiculous
pretender, and on whose head bitter imprecations had been so lavishly
poured, was now lauded with cries of triumph.

The gondoliers of the canals were laughed to scorn, and the ears of even
the haughty nobles were not respected, as the exulting band taunted
their pampered menials.