Page:Selection of amusing and entertaining Irish stories.pdf/8

8 dared to trample upon the nobles of Genoa,—you, by their clemency, are only doomed to shrink again into the nothin, whence you sprung.”

Uberto received his condemnation with respectful submission to the court; yet, stung by the manner in which it was expressed, he could not forbear saying to Adorno, “ that perhaps he might hereafter find cause to repent the language he had used to a man capable of sentiments as elevated as his own.’ He then made his obeisance, and retired; and, after taking leave of his friends, embarked in a vessel bound for Naples, and quitted his native country without a tear.

He collected some debts due to him in the Neapolitan dominions, and, with the wreck of his fortune, went to settle on one of the islands in the Archipelago belonging to the state of Venice. Here his industry and capacity in mercantile pursuits raised him, in a course of years, to greater wealth than he had possessed in his most prosperous days at Genoa ; and his reputation for honour and generosity equalled his fortune.

Among other places which he frequently visited as a merchant, was the city of Tunis, at that time in friendship with the Venetians, though hostile to most of the other Italian states, and especially to Genoa. As Uberto was on a visit to one of, the first men of that place at his country-house, he saw a young christian slave at work in irons, whose appearance excited his attention. The youth seemed oppressed with labour to which his delicate frame had not been accustomed; and, while he leaned at intervals upon the instrument with which he was working, a sigh burst from his full heart, and a tear stole down his cheek. Uberto eyed him with tender compassion, and addressed him in Italian. The youth eagerly caught the sounds of his native tongue; and, replying to his inquiries, informed him he was a Genoese. “ And what is your name, young man? ” said Uberto. “ You need not be afraid of confessing to me your birth and condition.”—“Alas!” he answered, “I fear my captors already suspect enough to demand a large ransom. My father is indeed one of the first men in Genoa. His name is Adorno, and I am his only son.”— “Adorno!” Uberto checked himself from uttering more aloud ; but to himself he cried, “Thank heaven! then I shall be nobly revenged.”

He took leave of the youth, and immediately went to inquire after the corsair captain who claimed a right in young Adorno ; and, having found him, demanded the price of his ransom. He learned that he was considered as a capture of some value, and that less than two thousand crowns would not be accepted. Uberto paid the sum ; and, causing his servant to follow him