"Justice, mighty Prince. They have forced the only vigorous branch from the dying trunk--they have lopped the withering stem of its most promising shoot--they have exposed the sole companion of my labors and pleasures, the child to whom I have looked to close my eyes, when it shall please God to call me away, untaught, and young in lessons of honesty and virtue, a boy in principle as in years, to all the temptation, and sin, and dangerous companionship of the galleys!" "Is this all? I had thought thy gondola in the decay, or thy right to use the Lagunes in question!" "Is this all?" repeated Antonio, looking around him in bitter melancholy. "Doge of Venice, it is more than one, old, heart-stricken, and bereaved, can bear?" "Go to; take thy golden chain and oar, and depart among thy fellows in triumph. Gladden thy heart at a victory, on which thou could'st not, in reason, have counted, and leave the interests of the state to those that are wiser than thee, and more fitted to sustain its cares." The fisherman arose with an air of rebuked submission, the result of a long life passed in the habit of political deference; but he did not approach to receive the proffered reward. "Bend thy head, fisherman, that his Highness may bestow the prize," commanded an officer. "I ask not for gold, nor any oar, but that which carries me to the Lagunes in the morning, and brings me back into the canals at night. Give me my child, or give me nothing." "Away with him!" muttered a dozen voices; "he utters sedition! let him quit the galley." Antonio was hurried from the presence, and forced into his gondola with very unequivocal signs of disgrace. This unwonted interruption of the ceremonies clouded many a brow, for the sensibilities of a Venetian noble were quick, indeed, to reprehend the immorality of political discontent, though the conventional dignity of the class suppressed all other ill-timed exhibition of dissatisfaction. "Let the next competitor draw near," continued the sovereign, with a composure that constant practice in dissimulation rendered easy. The unknown waterman to whose secret favor Antonio owed his success, approached, still concealed by the licensed mask. "Thou art the gainer of the second prize," said the Prince, "and were rigid justice done, thou should'st receive the first also, since our favor is not to be rejected with impunity. Kneel, that I may bestow the favor." "Highness, pardon!" observed the masker, bowing with great respect, but withdrawing a single step from the offered reward; "if it be your gracious will to grant a boon for the success of the regatta, I too have to pray that it may be given in another form." "This is unusual! It is not wont that prizes, offered by the hand of a Venetian Doge, should go a-begging." "I would not seem to press more than is respectful, in this great presence. I ask but little, and, in the end, it may cost the Republic less, than that which is now offered." "Name it."