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However, at any rate, we must keep within doors for a few days, lest we should be discovered; for I warrant you the Doge's spies are abroad in search of us by this. But as soon as the pursuit is over, be it our first business to find out Matteo's murderer, and throttle him out of hand as a warning to all others. All. Bravo, bravissimo. Pietrino.
Come, come, pluck up your spirits, comrades. Thomaso. That's easy to say, but quite out of my power. Pietrino. Mercy on me, how my teeth chatter. Baluzzo. Prithee, Abellino, be composed for a moment or two, your gaiety at a time like this is quite horrible. Cinthia. Oh, me! oh, me! Poor murdered Matteo. Abellino. Hey-day. Why, what is all this!
My name is Matteo, and I am the father of the band: that sturdy fellow with the red locks is called Baluzzo; he, whose eyes twinkle like a cat's, is Thomaso, an arch-knave, I promise you; 'twas Pietrino whose bones you handled so roughly to- night; and yon thick-lipped Colossus, who stands next to Cinthia, is named Stuzza.
Look to yourselves, my lads." And in the same instant he collected his forces together, threw the gigantic Matteo over his head as had he been an infant, knocked Struzza down on the right hand, and Pietrino on the left, tumbled Thomaso to the end of the room head over heels, and stretched Baluzzo without animation upon the neighbouring benches.
Since that, Pietrino has written that Larrone is taking a long holiday, and that people are wondering if he will have any scruples as to the large legacy that is said to have been left to him by Madame Danterre. So it is pretty clear who my reticent visitor was.
"Now, then, Abellino, which of us will you undertake? Whom among us dost thou think that thou canst knock down as easily as yon poor dabbler in the art, Pietrino?" The banditti burst into a loud fit of laughter. "Now, then," cried Abellino, fiercely; "now, then, for the trial. Why come you not on?"
This impression drove the parties into open enmity; a circumstance gratifying to Ferrando, who saw in it relief from his troubles, and the sole means of procuring his safety: he therefore assisted Pietrino with money and men, trusting to drive John out of the Genoese territory.
Where? Pietrino. What? this forenoon? Abellino. In the gardens of Dolabella, where he was found bleeding at the feet of the Doge's niece. Whether he fell by her hand, or by that of one of her admirers, I cannot say. Poor dear Matteo. Abellino. About this time to-morrow you will see his corpse exhibited on the gibbet. Pietrino. What! Did any one recognise him? Abellino.
The four banditti, whom Flodoardo had seized, Pietrino, Struzza, Baluzza, and Thomaso, had been safely committed to the Doge's dungeons, where they underwent a daily examination, and looked upon every sun that rose as the last that would ever rise for THEM. Andreas and his confidential counsellors now flattered themselves that the public tranquillity had nothing more to apprehend, and that Venice was now completely purified of the miscreants, whom gold could bribe to be the instruments of revenge and cruelty; when all at once the following address was discovered, affixed to most of the remarkable statues, and pasted against the corners of the principal streets, and pillars of the public buildings:
Well, well, with all my heart, when YOU are in the humour, perhaps I may not have the inclination. Baluzzo. Death and the devil, Abellino, is this a time for talking nonsense? Prithee keep such trash for a fitter occasion, and let us consider what we are to do just now. Pietrino. Nay, this is no season for trifling. Struzza.
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