“Hast thou an oar for that race?”

“Giorgio’s, or mine, under the patronage of San Teodoro.  The prize will be a silver gondola to him who is lucky or skilful enough to win; and then we shall have the nuptials with the Adriatic.”

“Thy nobles had best woo the bride well; for there are heretics who lay claim to her good will.  I met a rover of strange rig and miraculous fleetness, in rounding the headlands of Otranto, who seemed to have half a mind to follow the felucca in her path towards the Lagunes.”

“Did the sight warm thee at the soles of thy feet, Gino dear?”

“There was not a turbaned head on his deck, but every sea-cap sat upon a well covered poll and a shorn chin.  Thy Bucentaur is no longer the bravest craft that floats between Dalmatia and the islands, though her gilding may glitter brightest.  There are men beyond the pillars of Hercules who are not satisfied with doing all that can be done on their own coasts, but who are pretending to do much of that which can be done on ours.”

“The republic is a little aged, caro, and years need rest.  The joints of the Bucentaur are racked by time and many voyages to the Lido.  I have heard my master say that the leap of the winged lion is not as far as it was, even in his young days.”

“Don Camillo has the reputation of talking boldly of the foundation of this city of piles, when he has the roof of old Sant’ Agata safely over his head.  Were he to speak more reverently of the horned bonnet, and of the Council of Three, his pretensions to succeed to the rights of his forefathers might seem juster in the eyes of his judges.  But distance is a great mellower of colors and softener of fears.  My own opinion of the speed of the felucca, and of the merits of a Turk, undergo changes of this sort between port and the open sea; and I have known thee, good Gino, forget San Teodoro, and bawl as lustily to San Gennaro, when at Naples, as if thou really fancied thyself in danger from the mountain.”

“One must speak to those at hand, in order to be quickest heard,” rejoined the gondolier, casting a glance that was partly humorous, and not without superstition, upwards at the image which crowned the granite column against whose pedestal he still leaned.  “A truth which warns us to be prudent, for yonder Jew cast a look this way, as if he felt a conscientious scruple in letting any irreverent remark of ours go without reporting.  The bearded old rogue is said to have other dealings with the Three Hundred besides asking for the moneys he has lent to their sons.  And so, Stefano, thou thinkest the republic will never plant another mast of triumph in San Marco, or bring more trophies to the venerable church?”

“Napoli herself, with her constant change of masters, is as likely to do a great act on the sea as thy winged beast just now!  Thou art well enough to row a gondola in the canals, Gino, or to follow thy master to his Calabrian castle; but if thou would’st know what passes in the wide world, thou must be content to listen to mariners of the long course.  The day of San Marco has gone by, and that of the heretics more north has come.”