ere poured into it. One arrow pierced his
throat. Dragging it out, he continued to issue his orders for getting
the galley off the shore--bade a seaman swim with a line to the
moorings, and angrily rebuked those who, believing destruction to be
inevitable, entreated him to strike his flag. The sailor reached the
moorings, and, with a line he had taken, made fast a strong rope to it,
and the vessel was then hauled off into a place of safety. As Zeno
hurried along the deck, superintending the operation, he tumbled down
an open hatchway, and fell on his back, almost unconscious. In a few
moments he would have been suffocated by the blood from the wound in
his throat, but with a final effort he managed to roll over on to his
face, the wound was thus permitted to bleed freely, and he soon
recovered.

On the 28th of February, he was appointed general in chief of the land
forces, and the next day drove the Genoese from all their positions on
the islands of Brondolo and Little Chioggia, and on the following
morning established his headquarters under the ramparts of Chioggia,
and directed a destructive fire upon the citadel. As the Genoese fell
back across the bridge over the Canal of Santa Caterina, the structure
gave way under their weight, and great numbers were drowned. The
retreat of the Genoese was indeed so hurried and confused, and they
left behind them an immense quantity of arms, accoutrements, and war
material, so much so that suits of mail were selling for a few
shillings in the Venetian camp.

So completely were the Genoese disheartened, by the change in their
position, that many thought that the Venetians could at once have taken
Chioggia by assault; but the leaders were determined to risk no
failure, and knew that the enemy must yield to hunger. They therefore
contented themselves with a rigorous blockade, cutting off all the
supplies which the Lord of Padua endeavoured to throw into the city.
The Venetians, however, allowed the besieged to send away their women
and children, who were taken to Venice and kindly treated there.

The army of Venice had now been vastly increased, by the arrival of the
Star Company of Milan, and the Condottieri commanded by Sir John
Hawkwood. The dikes, erected across the channels with so much labour,
were removed, and the fleet took their part in the siege.

On the 14th of May there was joy in Chioggia, similar to that which the
Venetians had felt at the sight of Zeno's fleet, for