The Bravo | Page 8

freighted with the confessions of
fifty Christians. Now, if your eccellenza should see fit to give me
authority to question him in your name, the deuce is in't if between
respect for his lord, and good management, we could not draw
something more than a false bill of lading from him."
"Thou wilt take thy choice of my gondolas for the regatta, Gino,"
observed the Duke of Sant' Agata, entering the pavilion, and throwing
himself on the glossy black leathern cushions, without adverting to the
suggestion of his servant.
The gondola continued its noiseless course, with the sprite-like
movement peculiar to that description of boat. Gino, who, as superior
over his fellow, stood perched on the little arched deck in the stern,
pushed his oar with accustomed readiness and skill, now causing the
light vessel to sheer to the right, and now to the left, as it glided among
the multitude of craft, of all sizes and uses, which it met in its passage.
Palace after palace had been passed, and more than one of the principal
canals, which diverged towards the different spectacles, or the other
places of resort frequented by his master, was left behind, without Don
Camillo giving any new direction. At length the boat arrived opposite
to a building which seemed to excite more than common expectation.
Giorgio worked his oar with a single hand, looking over his shoulder at
Gino, and Gino permitted his blade fairly to trail on the water. Both
seemed to await new orders, manifesting something like that species of
instinctive sympathy with him they served, which a long practised
horse is apt to show when he draws near a gate that is seldom passed
unvisited by his driver.
The edifice which caused this hesitation in the two gondoliers was one
of those residences at Venice, which are quite as remarkable for their
external riches and ornaments as for their singular situation amid the
waters. A massive rustic basement of marble was seated as solidly in
the element as if it grew from a living rock, while story was seemingly
raised on story, in the wanton observance of the most capricious rules
of meretricious architecture, until the pile reached an altitude that is

little known, except in the dwellings of princes. Colonnades,
medallions, and massive cornices overhung the canal, as if the art of
man had taken pride in loading the superstructure in a manner to mock
the unstable element which concealed its base. A flight of steps, on
which each gentle undulation produced by the passage of the barge
washed a wave, conducted to a vast vestibule, that answered many of
the purposes of a court. Two or three gondolas were moored near, but
the absence of their people showed they were for the use of those who
dwelt within. The boats were protected from rough collision with the
passing craft by piles driven obliquely into the bottom. Similar spars,
with painted and ornamented heads, that sometimes bore the colors and
arms of the proprietor, formed a sort of little haven for the gondolas of
the household, before the door of every dwelling of mark.
"Where is it the pleasure of your eccellenza to be rowed?" asked Gino,
when he found his sympathetic delay had produced no order.
"To the Palazzo."
Giorgio threw a glance of surprise back at his comrade, but the
obedient gondola shot by the gloomy, though rich abode, as if the little
bark had suddenly obeyed an inward impulse. In a moment more it
whirled aside, and the hollow sound, caused by the plash of water
between high walls, announced its entrance into a narrower canal. With
shortened oars the men still urged the boat ahead, now turning short
into some new channel, now glancing beneath a low bridge, and now
uttering, in the sweet shrill tones of the country and their craft, the well
known warning to those who were darting in an opposite direction. A
backstroke of Gino's oar, however, soon brought the side of the arrested
boat to a flight of steps.
"Thou wilt follow me," said Don Camillo, as he placed his foot, with
the customary caution, on the moist stone, and laid a hand on the
shoulder of Gino; "I have need of thee."
Neither the vestibule, nor the entrance, nor the other visible accessories
of the dwelling were so indicative of luxury and wealth as that of the
palace on the great canal. Still they were all such as denoted the

residence of a noble of consideration.
"Thou wilt do wisely, Gino, to trust thy fortunes to the new gondola,"
said the master, as he mounted the heavy stone stairs to an upper floor,
pointing, as he spoke, to a new and beautiful boat, which lay in a corner
of the large vestibule,