miserable cut-throats. ALONE will I make the Republic tremble, and
before eight days are flown, these murderous knaves shall swing upon
a gibbet. Venice shall no longer harbour FIVE banditti; ONE and ONE
only shall inhabit here, and that one shall beard the Doge himself,
shall watch over right and wrong, and according as he judges, shall
reward and punish. Before eight days are flown, the State shall be
purified from the presence of these outcasts of humanity, and then
shall I stand here alone. Then must every villain in Venice, who
hitherto has kept the daggers of my companions in employment, have
recourse to me; then shall I know the names and persons of all those
cowardly murderers, of all those illustrious profligates, with whom
Matteo and his companions carry on the trade of blood. And then--
Abellino! Abellino, that is the name. Hear it, Venice, hear it,
and tremble."

Intoxicated with the wildness of his hopes, he rushed out of the
garden. He summoned a gondolier, threw himself into the boat, and
hastened to the dwelling of Cinthia, where the inhabitants already
were folded in the arms of sleep.



CHAPTER VI: ROSABELLA, THE DOGE'S LOVELY NIECE.



"Hark, comrade," said Matteo the next morning to Abellino; "to-day
thou shalt make thy first step in our profession."

"To-day!" hoarsely murmured Abellino; "and on whom am I to show my