Accordingly, at daybreak, the delegates, followed by the people, came to the gates of the prison; and when he appeared with his usual cheerful and good-humored aspect, he was lifted by some of his old sailors and borne {152} on their shoulders to the palace, amid cries of "Viva il Nostro Vettore! Viva Vettore Pisani!" but he chidingly cried, "Viva San Marco!" The Doge and senators met him on the staircase and graciously welcomed him. Mass was celebrated. Pisani was some time in conclave with the College, the people constantly shouting his name outside; and when he emerged he was borne, as he had come, to his own house in San Fantino, where he had not been for fifteen months. As he was passing the Campanile, his old pilot, Corbaro, drew near to him and shouted out, "Now is the time, _Compadre_, for revenging yourself by seizing the dictatorship of this city. Behold, all are at your service; all are willing at this very instant to proclaim you prince, if you choose!" Pisani boiled with rage, and dealing Corbaro a heavy blow on the cheek, burst into indignant speech, and at last exclaimed: "Let none who wish me well say Viva Pisani! but, Viva San Marco!" and the populace then shouted, "Viva San Marco e Vettore Pisani! Viva il Pisani, ch'e nostro Padre!" and the throng was so dense from the Piazza to San Fantino that not another man could have found room to stand. But the people soon learned that Pisani had merely been given the command of the Lido, while Giustiniani was at the head of the navy. Then a great tumult arose; and although the government alleged that Pisani was needed at the Lido, the people to the number of fifty thousand refused to embark on the galleys until Vettore Pisani was made captain-general of all the forces of the Republic by sea and land. The matter was then referred to the Ten, who were awed into compliance; and the commission was granted as desired, and this but four days after the fall of Chioggia, so hastily had all been done. Meantime the allies had progressed less rapidly, owing to divisions in their counsels; but they had pushed {153} forward to Malamocco, and there erected a battery within three miles of the capital. Many stray shots reached Santo Spirito. Pisani had much to do to make efficient sailors and soldiers of raw recruits, to provide for the safety of the city, to equip between twenty and thirty skeletons of galleys which were at the Arsenal and were ready for sea in three days, and to attend to the lists of the volunteers. The whole city was enthusiastically patriotic. "All classes hastened to enroll themselves. Painters quitted their studios to be initiated in the rudiments of naval discipline on the Giudecca; cutlers and apothecaries closed their workshops, and devoted themselves to drilling and exercise. Artisans brought their savings; women plucked the jewels from their dresses, and begged the Seigniory to dispose of them as they would."