Sforz

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. THE MABKIAGE OF THE SEA. Hermes had little difficulty in persuading Nar- vaez to start with him on the following morning, in consideration of a purse of ducats, and upon the stipulation that he should serve merely as guide and companion, and be in no wise responsible for the discharge of their...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. THE MABKIAGE OF THE SEA. Hermes had little difficulty in persuading Nar- vaez to start with him on the following morning, in consideration of a purse of ducats, and upon the stipulation that he should serve merely as guide and companion, and be in no wise responsible for the discharge of their mission, which, though vaguely indicated, the fencing-master divined to be beyond his methods. As he had lived in Venice and knew the ways of the people, and could thread his way afoot through its labyrinths, his selection promised to be of more practical value than Ludo- vico had conceived it. The first day of their journey was spent in one of the canvas-covered post-wagons of the period, which, passing by a northern route, brought them in rear of the Venetian army. Here they were made to exhibit their papers, and were delayed by the march of a rear guard of Stradiot light horse and Dalmatian infantry; here, too, they passed the proweditori, whose charge it was to watch the conduct of every general in the field; and not far behind came a company of leeches, nurses, and cooks, destined for the care of the wounded. Early on the third morning they entered a gondola, and glided swiftly across the lagoon of Fu- sina, leaving behind the fishing-boats, whose red sails waited vainly for the breeze, and the round- bowed market barges with freight of poultry and vegetables. Against the creamy flushes of the eastern sky appeared the pointed campanili, and above a misty outline of roofs rose domes and spires. Southward lay a sandbar which hid the sea, whose salt odor reached them; but toward the north they beheld successive lines of violet hills, and behind them the dolomites of Cadore and the peak of the giant Antelao. Narvaez directed their course to an obscure trattoria in the qu..