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enough to win; and
then we shall have the nuptials with the Adriatic."
    "Thy nobles had best woo the bride well; for there are heretics who lay
claim to her good will. I met a rover of strange rig and miraculous
fleetness, in rounding the headlands of Otranto, who seemed to have half
a mind to follow the felucca in her path towards the Lagunes."
    "Did the sight warm thee at the soles of thy feet, Gino dear?"
    "There was not a turbaned head on his deck, but every sea-cap sat upon a
well covered poll and a shorn chin. Thy Bucentaur is no longer the
bravest craft that floats between Dalmatia and the islands, though her
gilding may glitter brightest. There are men beyond the pillars of
Hercules who are not satisfied with doing all that can be done on their
own coasts, but who are pretending to do much of that which can be done
on ours."
    "The republic is a little aged, caro, and years need rest. The joints of
the Bucentaur are racked by time and many voyages to the Lido. I have
heard my master say that the leap of the winged lion is not as far as it
was, even in his young days."
    "Don Camillo has the reputation of talking boldly of the foundation of
this city of piles, when he has the roof of old Sant' Agata safely over
his head. Were he to speak more reverently of the horned bonnet, and of
the Council of Three, his pretensions to succeed to the rights of his
forefathers might seem juster in the eyes of his judges. But distance is
a great mellower of colors and softener of fears. My own opinion of the
speed of the felucca, and of the merits of a Turk, undergo changes of
this sort between port and the open sea; and I have known thee, good
Gino, forget San Teodoro, and bawl as lustily to San Gennaro, when at
Naples, as if thou really fancied thyself in danger from the mountain."
    "One must speak to those at hand, in order to be quickest heard,"
rejoined the gondolier, casting a glance that was partly humorous, and
not without superstition, upwards at the image which crowned the granite
column against whose pedestal he still leaned. "A truth which warns us
to be prudent, for yonder Jew cast a look this way, as if he felt a
conscientious scruple in letting any irreverent remark of ours go
without reporting. The bearded old rogue is said to have other dealings
with the Three Hundred besides asking for the moneys he has lent to
their sons. And so, Stefano, thou thinkest the republic will never plant
another mast of triumph in San Marco, or bring more trophies to the
venerable church?"
    "Napoli herself, with her constant change of masters, is as likely to do
a great act on the sea as thy winged beast just now! Thou art well
enough to row a gondola in the canals, Gino, or to follow thy master to
his Calabrian castle; but if thou would'st know what passes in the wide
world, thou must be content to listen to mariners of the long course.
The day of San Marco has gone by, and that of the heretics more north
has come."
    "Thou hast been much of late among the lying Genoese, Stefano, that thou
comest hither with these idle tales of what a heretic can do. Genova la
Superba! What has a city of walls to compare with one of canals and
islands like this?—and what has that Apennine republic performed, to be
put in comparison with the great deeds of the Queen of the Adriatic?
Thou forgettest that Venezia has been—"
    "Zitto, zitto! that
has
been, caro mio, is a great word with all
Italy. Thou art as proud of the past as a Roman of the Trastevere."
    "And the Roman of the Trastevere is right. Is it nothing, Stefano
Milano, to be descended from a great and victorious people?"
    "It is better, Gino Monaldi, to be one of a people which is great and
victorious just now. The enjoyment of the past is like the pleasure of
the fool who dreams of the wine he drank yesterday."
    "This is well for a Neapolitan, whose country never was a nation,"
returned the gondolier, angrily. "I have heard Don Camillo, who is one
educated as well as born in the land, often say