"Holy Mother of God! Was it not sufficient to get back my boy from the gripe of the galleys?" exclaimed Antonio, with an energy and a simplicity that are often found to be in the same character. "I thought that if the Doge and the senate were willing to cause pictures to be painted, and honors to be given to one poor fisherman for the ring, they might be glad to reward another, by releasing a lad who can be of no great service to the Republic, but who is all to his parent."
"Thy petition to his Highness, thy strife in the regatta, and thy search for the ring, had the same object?"
"To me, Signore, life has but one."
There was a slight but suppressed movement among the council.
"When thy request was refused by his Highness as ill-timed—"
"Ah! eccellenza, when one has a white head and a failing arm, he cannot stop to look for the proper moment in such a cause!" interrupted the fisherman, with a gleam of that impetuosity which forms the true base of Italian character.
"When thy request was denied, and thou hadst refused the reward of the victor, thou went among thy fellows and fed their ears with complaints of the injustice of St. Mark, and of the senate's tyranny?"
"Signore, no. I went away sad and heart-broken, for I had not thought the Doge and nobles would have refused a successful gondolier so light a boon."
"And this thou didst not hesitate to proclaim among the fishermen and idlers of the Lido?"
"Eccellenza, it was not needed—my fellows knew my unhappiness, and tongues were not wanting to tell the worst."