Fresh merriment, at his expense, caused him to bend his face towards the scoffers, and he perceived they were just then passing a numerous group of his fellows of the Lagunes, who seemed to feel that his unjustifiable ambition reflected, in some degree, on the honor of their whole body.
"How now, old Antonio!" shouted the boldest of the band, "is it not enough that thou hast won the honors of the net, but thou would'st have a golden oar at thy neck ?" "We shall yet see him of the senate!" cried a second.
"He standeth in need of the horned bonnet for his naked head," continued a third.

"We shall see the brave Admiral Antonio sailing in the Bucentaur, with the nobles of the land!" Their sallies were succeeded by coarse laughter.

Even the fair in the balconies were not uninfluenced by these constant jibes, and the apparent discrepancy between the condition and the means of so unusual a pretender to the honors of the regatta.

The purpose of the old man wavered, but he seemed goaded by some inward incentive that still enabled him to maintain his ground.

His companion closely watched the varying expression of a countenance that was far too little trained in deception to conceal the feelings within; and, as they approached the place of starting, he again spoke.
"Thou mayest yet withdraw," he said; "why should one of thy years make the little time he has to stay bitter, by bearing the ridicule of his associates for the rest of his life ?" "St.Anthony did a greater wonder when he caused the fishes to come up on the waters to hear his preaching, and I will not show a cowardly heart at a moment when there is most need of resolution." The masked waterman crossed himself devoutly; and, relinquishing all further design to persuade the other to abandon the fruitless contest, he gave all his thoughts to his own interest in the coming struggle.
The narrowness of most of the canals of Venice, with the innumerable angles and the constant passing, have given rise to a fashion of construction and of rowing that are so peculiar to that city and its immediate dependencies as to require some explanation.