He raised himself, and I in anger, gave him a great cut across the head, which split it in two pieces, and laid him at my feet, and he never rose again.' Bebo, meanwhile, had made off from the scene of action.

And Bibboni, taking to his heels, came up with him in the little square of San Marcello.

They now ran for their lives till they reached the traghetto di San Spirito, where they threw their poignards into the water, remembering that no man might carry these in Venice under penalty of the galleys.

Bibboni's white hose were drenched with blood.

He therefore agreed to separate from Bebo, having named a rendezvous.