between life and death--his humble bed
attended by the most famous physicians and surgeons whom the Republic
could summon to her aid. The secretaries, meanwhile, were busy in
preparing resolutions of affection by which to honor him in the sight of
the Venetian people; letters of announcement to foreign courts, as if he
had been of the blood royal; proclamations of reward for the persons of
the criminals, alive or dead, which, before the day had dawned, the
Signori della Notte had affixed to the doors of San Marco, along the
Rialto, on the breast of Ser Robia, that all might read. And for means
of bringing the offenders to justice they plotted and schemed as none
but Venetians could do.

It was three days since the storm, and the gastaldo had not yet been
released, he also was simply detained, without ignominy or discomfort in
rooms set apart for prisoners of State before they had been brought to
trial; for the events of these days had been too absorbing to permit of
an examination of his case. And now, in the gray dawn which broke upon
that night of anxiety and excitement, alternating between hope and fear
as frequent messengers, each guarded by a detachment of palace guards,
appeared with fresh news from the convent, the weary senators strolled
up and down in the great chambers opening on the sea facade of the Ducal
Palace discussing the event in a more desultory way--its meaning, its
dangers, the achievements of the great man who might, even now, be
receiving the viaticum in the convent of the Servi.

He was first named with terms of endearment strange upon the lips of
that stately assembly--"Il caro Padre," "Teologo amato di Venezia"--yet
the guards had failed to seize those villains who lay in wait at the
Ponte della Pugna! The bridges and traghetti must be closely
watched.--Ah--the gastaldo grande!

"Hath one yet been named _Condottiere_ for this frontier service?"
questioned one of the older senators, among a group of the more
important men who had detached themselves from the others and strolled
out into the great loggia on the sea facade for a reviving breath of the
morning air. "For such an employ there is none like Piero Salin for
daring and intrigue; and the assassins may linger long in hiding on the
route to Rome."

And so they first remembered Piero in these crowded days and discussed
his fault with a degree of leniency that would have been foreign to the
traditions of Venice had he not been needed for