The Bravo (42 page)

The throng in the court was raising one of its loudest and most menacing
cries as the train of the Doge appeared, approaching by one of the long
open galleries of the principal floor of the edifice.

The presence of the venerable man who nominally presided over that
factitious state, and the long training of the fishermen in habits of
deference to authority, notwithstanding their present tone of
insubordination, caused a sudden and deep silence. A feeling of awe
gradually stole over the thousand dark faces that were gazing upwards,
as the little cortége drew near. So profound, indeed, was the stillness
caused by this sentiment, that the rustling of the ducal robes was
audible, as the prince, impeded by his infirmities, and consulting the
state usual to his rank, slowly advanced. The previous violence of the
untutored fishermen, and their present deference to the external state
that met their eyes, had its origin in the same causes;—ignorance and
habit were the parents of both.

"Why are ye assembled here, my children?" asked the Doge, when he had
reached the summit of the Giant's Stairs, "and most of all, why have ye
come into the palace of your prince with these unbefitting cries?"

The tremulous voice of the old man was clearly audible, for the lowest
of its tones were scarcely interrupted by a breath. The fishermen gazed
at each other, and all appeared to search for him who might be bold
enough to answer. At length one in the centre of the crowded mass, and
effectually concealed from observation, cried, "Justice!"

"Such is our object," mildly continued the prince; "and such, I will
add, is our practice. Why are ye assembled here, in a manner so
offensive to the state, and so disrespectful to your prince?"

Still none answered. The only spirit of their body, which had been
capable of freeing itself from the trammels of usage and prejudice, had
deserted the shell which lay on the lower step of the Giant's Stairs.

"Will none speak! are ye so bold with your voices when unquestioned, and
so silent when confronted?"

"Speak them fair, your highness," whispered he of the council, who was
commissioned to be a secret witness of the interview; "the Dalmatians
are scarce yet apparelled."

The prince bowed to advice which he well knew must be respected, and he
assumed his former tone.

"If none will acquaint me with your wants, I must command you to retire,
and while my parental heart grieves—"

"Giustizia!" repeated the hidden member of the crowd.

"Name thy wants, that we may know them."

"Highness! deign to look at this!"

One bolder than the rest had turned the body of Antonio to the moon, in
a manner to expose the ghastly features, and, as he spoke, he pointed
towards the spectacle he had prepared. The prince started at the
unexpected sight, and, slowly descending the steps, closely accompanied
by his companions and his guards, he paused over the body.

"Has the assassin done this?" he asked, after looking at the dead
fisherman, and crossing himself. "What could the end of one like this
profit a Bravo? Haply the unfortunate man hath fallen in a broil of his
class?"

"Neither, illustrious Doge! we fear that Antonio has suffered for the
displeasure of St. Mark!"

"Antonio! Is this the hardy fisherman who would have taught us how to
rule in the state regatta!"

"Eccellenza, it is," returned the simple laborer of the Lagunes, "and a
better hand with a net, or a truer friend in need, never rowed a gondola
to or from the Lido. Diavolo! It would have done your highness pleasure
to have seen the poor old Christian among us, on a saint's day, taking
the lead in our little ceremonies, and teaching us the manner in which
our fathers used to do credit to the craft!"

"Or to have been with us, illustrious Doge," cried another, for, the ice
once broken, the tongues of a mob soon grow bold, "in a merry-making on
the Lido, when old Antonio was always the foremost in the laugh, and the
discreetest in knowing when to be grave."

The Doge began to have a dawning of the truth, and he cast a glance
aside to examine the countenance of the unknown inquisitor.

"It is far easier to understand the merits of the unfortunate man, than
the manner of his death," he said, finding no explanation in the drilled
members of the face he had scrutinized. "Will any of your party explain
the facts?"

The principal speaker among the fishermen willingly took on himself the
office, and, in the desultory manner of one of his habits, he acquainted
the Doge with the circumstances connected with the finding of the body.
When he had done, the prince again asked explanations, with his eye,
from the senator at his side, for he was ignorant whether the policy of
the state required an example, or simply a death."

"I see nothing in this, your highness," observed he of the council, "but
the chances of a fisherman. The unhappy old man has come to his end by
accident, and it would be charity to have a few masses said for his
soul."

"Noble senator!" exclaimed the fisherman, doubtingly, "St. Mark was
offended!"

"Rumor tells many idle tales of the pleasure and displeasure of St.
Mark, If we are to believe all that the wit of men can devise, in
affairs of this nature, the criminals are not drowned in the Lagunes,
but in the Canale Orfano."

"True, eccellenza, and we are forbidden to cast our nets there, on pain
of sleeping with the eels at its bottom."

"So much greater reason for believing that this old man hath died by
accident. Is there mark of violence on his body? for though the state
could scarcely occupy itself with such as he, some other might. Hath the
condition of the body been looked to?"

"Eccellenza, it was enough to cast one of his years into the centre of
the Lagunes. The stoutest arm in Venice could not save him."

"There may have been violence in some quarrel, and the proper authority
should be vigilant. Here is a Carmelite! Father, do you know aught of
this?"

The monk endeavored to answer, but his voice failed. He stared wildly
about him, for the whole scene resembled some frightful picture of the
imagination, and then folding his arms on his bosom, he appeared to
resume his prayers.

"Thou dost not answer, Friar?" observed the Doge, who had been as
effectually deceived, by the natural and indifferent manner of the
inquisitor, as any other of his auditors. "Where didst thou find this
body?"

Father Anselmo briefly explained the manner in which he had been pressed
into the service of the fishermen.

At the elbow of the prince there stood a young patrician, who, at the
moment, filled no other office in the state than such as belonged to his
birth. Deceived, like the others, by the manner of the only one who knew
the real cause of Antonio's death, he felt a humane and praiseworthy
desire to make sure that no foul play had been exercised towards the
victim.

"I have heard of this Antonio," said this person, who was called the
Senator Soranzo, and who was gifted by nature with feelings that, in any
other form of government, would have made him a philanthropist, "and of
his success in the regatta. Was it not said that Jacopo, the Bravo, was
his competitor?"

A low, meaning, and common murmur ran through the throng.

"A man of his reputed passions and ferocity may well have sought to
revenge defeat by violence!"

A second and a louder murmur denoted the effect this suggestion had
produced.

"Eccellenza, Jacopo deals in the stiletto!" observed the half-credulous
but still doubting fisherman.

"That is as may be necessary. A man of his art and character may have
recourse to other means to gratify his malice. Do you not agree with me,
Signore?"

The Senator Soranzo put this question, in perfect good faith, to the
unknown member of the secret council. The latter appeared struck with
the probability of the truth of his companion's conjecture, but
contented himself with a simple acknowledgment to that effect, by
bowing.

"Jacopo! Jacopo!" hoarsely repeated voice after voice in the
crowd—"Jacopo has done this! The best gondolier in Venice has been
beaten by an old fisherman, and nothing but blood could wipe out the
disgrace!"

"It shall be inquired into, my children, and strict justice done," said
the Doge, preparing to depart. "Officers, give money for masses, that
the soul of the unhappy man be not the sufferer. Reverend Carmelite, I
commend the body to thy care, and thou canst do no better service than
to pass the night in prayer by its side."

A thousand caps were waved in commendation of this gracious command, and
the whole throng stood in silent respect, as the prince, followed by his
retinue, retired as he had approached, through the long, vaulted gallery
above.

A secret order of the Inquisition prevented the appearance of the
Dalmatians.

A few minutes later and all was prepared. A bier and canopy were brought
out of the adjoining cathedral, and the corpse was placed upon the
former. Father Anselmo then headed the procession, which passed through
the principal gate of the palace into the square, chanting the usual
service. The Piazzetta and the piazza were still empty. Here and there,
indeed, a curious face, belonging to some agent of the police, or to
some observer more firm than common, looked out from beneath the arches
of the porticoes on the movements of the mob, though none ventured to
come within its influence.

But the fishermen were no longer bent on violence. With the fickleness
of men little influenced by reflection, and subject to sudden and
violent emotions, a temperament which, the effect of a selfish system,
is commonly tortured into the reason why it should never be improved,
they had abandoned all idea of revenge on the agents of the police, and
had turned their thoughts to the religious services, which, being
commanded by the prince himself, were so flattering to their class.

It is true that a few of the sterner natures among them mingled menaces
against the Bravo with their prayers for the dead, but these had no
other effect on the matter in hand, than is commonly produced by the
by-players on the principal action of the piece.

The great portal of the venerable church was thrown open, and the solemn
chant was heard issuing, in responses, from among the quaint columns and
vaulted roofs within. The body of the lowly and sacrificed Antonio was
borne beneath that arch which sustains the precious relics of Grecian
art, and deposited in the nave. Candles glimmered before the altar and
around the ghastly person of the dead, throughout the night; and the
cathedral of St. Mark was pregnant with all the imposing ceremonials of
the Catholic ritual, until the day once more appeared.

Priest succeeded priest, in repeating the masses, while the attentive
throng listened, as if each of its members felt that his own honor and
importance were elevated by this concession to one of their number. In
the square the maskers gradually reappeared, though the alarm had been
too sudden and violent, to admit a speedy return to the levity which
ordinarily was witnessed in that spot, between the setting and the
rising of the sun.

"'Tis of a lady in her earliest youth,
The very last of that illustrious race."
ROGERS.

When the fishermen landed on the quay, they deserted the gondola of the
state to a man. Donna Violetta and her governess heard the tumultuous
departure of their singular captors with alarm, for they were nearly in
entire ignorance of the motive which had deprived them of the protection
of Father Anselmo, and which had so unexpectedly made them actors in the
extraordinary scene. The monk had simply explained that his offices were
required in behalf of the dead, but the apprehension of exciting
unnecessary terror prevented him from adding that they were in the power
of a mob. Donna Florinda, however, had ascertained sufficient, by
looking from the windows of the canopy and from the cries of those
around her, to get a glimmering of the truth. Under the circumstances,
she saw that the most prudent course was to keep themselves as much as
possible from observation. But when the profound stillness that
succeeded the landing of the rioters announced that they were alone,
both she and her charge had an intuitive perception of the favorable
chance which fortune had so strangely thrown in their way.

"They are gone!" whispered Donna Florinda, holding her breath in
attention, as soon as she had spoken.

"And the police will be soon here to seek us!"

No further explanation passed, for Venice was a town in which even the
young and innocent were taught caution. Donna Florinda stole another
look without.

"They have disappeared, Heaven knows where! Let us go!"

In an instant the trembling fugitives were on the quay. The Piazzetta
was without a human form, except their own. A low, murmuring sound arose
from the court palace, which resembled the hum of a disturbed hive; but
nothing was distinct or intelligible.

"There is violence meditated," again whispered the governess; "would to
God that Father Anselmo were here!"

A shuffling footstep caught their ears, and both turned towards a boy,
in the dress of one of the Lagunes, who approached from the direction of
the Broglio.

"A reverend Carmelite bid me give you this," said the youth, stealing a
glance behind him, like one who dreaded detection. Then putting a small
piece of paper in the hand of Donna Florinda, he turned his own swarthy
palm, in which a small silver coin glittered, to the moon, and vanished.

By the aid of the same light the governess succeeded in tracing
pencil-marks, in a hand that had been well known to her younger days.

"Save thyself, Florinda—There is not an instant to lose. Avoid public
places, and seek a shelter quickly."