"Teresa had swooned, and hung on my arm in a happy state of insensibility.
"Isacco Zendono, who had suffered severely in the melée, during his prostrate position on the floor, now scrambled up, his heart burning with fury, and his body smarting with pain. He was plastered with the gore of the slain men; and its dripping from his sable beard and matted hair no way improved his personal appearance, or increased the benevolence of his features.
"Growling at the weight of his comrades' heels, he demanded in a stentorian voice that lots should be cast for possession of the Señora Teresa; a proposition at once acceded to.
"Dice were produced, and the beetle-browed banditti crowded round a table, where they rattled and threw the dice in succession.
"The Jew uttered a yell.
"He had won!
"Diable! how like a victorious fiend he seemed, as, with a shout of villanous joy, he snatched the poor insensible victim from my arms, and with his poniard menacing any man who dared to follow, bore her off, bent double over his left arm, as easily as he would have done a folded mantle.
"Poor Teresa! she was so slight and young.
"Monsieur, I am not quite such a bad or wild fellow as, perhaps, you may think me; and I do assure you that I then felt my impetuous blood tingling in every vein. I sprang after the dog Zendono, but was restrained by the powerful and perhaps friendly arm of Don Julian d'Aviero.
"'Señor!' he exclaimed, in a whisper, 'are you mad? Remember your life is at stake, and ponder well on the helplessness of your condition among us.'