coundrel Castellani, who threw a good Nicolotto over
the Ponte Senza Parapetti, in the last fight; and it cost us oil enough
to light Venice for a year--faith of San Nicolo!--to keep them from
winning at our regatta--_maledetti_!"

For even those gondoliers who kept the mariegole were not precisely
angels, and the part of their creed which they religiously upheld was a
deathless antagonism to the rival faction which won more lamps and
pretty gifts for the patron madonnas of the various traghetti than any
other article of their faith.

To a few, chiefly women with devout, sad faces--watchers, perchance,
beside beds over which the shadow of death is creeping--the padre tells
compassionately of consoling, helpful words that are preached daily in
the great deserted church of _I Gesuiti_; for in this parish, more than
others, there are difficulties, since it had been the centre of the
disaffection. But now its doors are ceaselessly open for a refuge; no
service is omitted, no sacrament denied; and daily, before vespers, the
people may listen to a few simple words from Fra Paolo. Thither, in
these early days of the struggle, the crowd flocks, drawn partly by
curiosity to hear a man of whom it is whispered that he has just been
individually put under the greater excommunication by the Holy
Inquisition, because of his attitude in this quarrel.

There is much talk of Fra Paolo sifting about the church and square,
where the gathering of the people shows a sprinkling of red-robed
senators; for the Padre Maestro Paolo, which is his title since he has
been Consultore to the Republic, is a great man now, with a greatness
that means something to the populace, to whom letters and sciences are
nothings. But the Consultore is the friend of Venice; he is _their_
friend--coming each day to talk to the people. "It is not true that
great trouble has come upon Venice, for Fra Paolo makes it all quite
plain, and he knows everything," they say; "our padre in San Marcuolo is
like a bimbo to him! The Jesuit Fathers went too soon, and might have
spared themselves the burning of their papers and their treasure. Santa
Maria!--what is it they are saying about Fra Paolo finding the die for
making money that the _padri_ left behind? What is a 'die,' Luigi? If
thou hadst had the sense to bring thy boat to clear away the rubbish,
instead of thinking there are only fish in the world, thou mightest have
had the luck to find it; it must be better than wor