Zorzi had slept but little after he had at last lain down upon the long
bench in the laboratory, for the scene in which he had been the chief
actor that night had made a profound impression upon him. There are some
men who would not make good soldiers but who can face sudden and
desperate danger with a calmness which few soldiers really possess, and
which is generally accompanied by some marked superiority of mind; but
such exceptional natures feel the reaction that follows the perilous
moment far more than the average fighting man. They are those who
sometimes stem the rush of panic and turn back whole armies from ruin to
victorious battle; they are those who spring forward from the crowd to
save life when some terrible accident has happened, as if they were
risking nothing, and who generally succeed in what they attempt; but
they are not men who learn to fight every day as carelessly and
naturally as they eat, drink or sleep. Their chance of action may come
but once or twice in a lifetime; yet when it comes it finds them far
more ready and cool than the average good soldier could ever be. Like
strength in some men, their courage seems to depend on quality and very
little on quantity, training or experience.

Zorzi knew very well that although the young gentlemen who were playing
at conspiracy in Jacopo's house did not constitute a serious danger to
the Republic, they were fully aware of their own peril, and would not
have hesitated to take his life if it had not occurred to them that he
might be useful. His intrepid manner had saved him, but now that the
night was over he felt such a weariness and lassitude as he had never
known before.

The adventure had its amusing side, of course. To Zorzi, who knew the