United States or Switzerland ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Thou shalt tell the bancali that I sent thee; thou shalt tell them there are affairs of moment for the Nicolotti which shall go hard for the traghetti if I be not there to work them Art listening, Antonio?" he questioned feverishly. Antonio's eyes were fastened upon his. "Padrone, yes!" he answered breathlessly.
His own way had always been the right way for him rules of all orders to the contrary whether he had been a wandering gondolier, a despised barcariol toso, lording it so outrageously over the established traghetti that they were glad to forgive him his bandit crimes and swear him into membership, if only to stop his influence against them; or whether it had been the stealing away of a promised bride, as on that memorable day at San Pietro in Castello, when he had married Toinetta it was never safe to bear "vendetta" with one so strong and handsome and unprincipled as Piero.
"The Consiglio hath its own matters for ruling; the traghetti belong to the people!"
"With my token thou canst command the loyalty of every Nicolotto is it thine oar that made that rustle? and perchance, if there were a rising of the traghetti to demand aught of the Signoria come nearer, Antonio! the Castellani also, if they willed to join with their traghetti in asking for justice would not serve under my token the less heartily for the word, confided low to their bancali dost understand? that if their taxes and their fines oppress them, these also, I being free, will pay this year to the maledetto Avvogadoro del Commun."
Antonio gravely bowed his head in assent. "This at thy discretion thou understandest, Antonio and so that no violence come from the massing of the people, but only the proof of its will and of the numbers who make the demand. Only if it be not granted, they shall make a stand at the traghetti and fight " "Padrone, yes!"
Since this happening Piero had been indeed a great man among the people a popular idol, with a degree of power difficult to estimate by one unfamiliar with the customs and traditions of Venice; holding the key, practically, to all the traghetti of Venice, since even before this sweeping disaffection of the Castellani the Nicolotti were invariably acknowledged to be the more powerful faction, so that now it was a trifling matter to coerce a rival offending traghetto; and gondoliers, private and public, were, to say the least, courteous toward these nobles of the Nicolotti, who were dealing with tosi as never before in the history of Venice.
Word Of The Day