islands, of affairs that the
patricians like not to be stirred among men of your class. I come, as a
friend, to warn thee of the consequences of such indiscretion, rather
than as one to harm thee."

"Thou art sent to say this?"

"Old man, age should teach thy tongue moderation. What will avail vain
complaints against the Republic, or what canst thou hope for, as their
fruits, but evil to thyself, and evil to the child that thou lovest?"

"I know not; but when the heart is sore the tongue will speak. They have
taken away my boy, and they have left little behind that I value. The
life they threaten is too short to be cared for."

"Thou should'st temper thy regrets with wisdom. The Signor Gradenigo has
long been friendly to thee, and I have heard that thy mother nursed him.
Try his ears with prayers, but cease to anger the Republic with
complaints."

Antonio looked wistfully at his companion, but when he had ceased he
shook his head mournfully, as if to express the hopelessness of relief
from that quarter.

"I have told him all that a man, born and nursed on the Lagunes, can
find words to say. He is a senator, Jacopo; and he thinks not of
suffering he does not feel."

"Art thou not wrong, old man, to accuse him who hath been born in
affluence of hardness of heart, merely that he doth not feel the misery
thou would'st avoid, too, were it in thy power? Thou hast thy gondola
and nets, with health and the cunning of thy art, and in that art thou
happier than he who hath neither; would'st thou forget thy skill, and
share thy little stock with the beggar of San Marco, that your fortunes
might be equal?"

"There may be truth in what thou sayest of our labor and our means, but
when it comes to our young, nature is the same in both. I see no reason
why the son of the patrician should go free and the child of the
fisherman be sold to blood. Have not the senators enough of happiness in
their riches and greatness, that they rob me of my son?"

"Thou knowest, Antonio, the state must be served, and were its officers
to go into the palaces in quest of hardy mariners for the fleet, would
they, think you, find them that would honor the winged lion in the hour
of his need? Thy old arm is muscular, and thy leg steady on the water,
and they seek those who, like thee, have been trained to the seas."

"Thou should'st have said, also, and thy old breast is scarred. Before
thy birth, Jacopo, I went against the infidel, and my blood wa