I had to procure the amount, but to whom could I apply?  I could ask no one but M. de Bragadin.  The excellent man had not that sum in his possession, for his purse was generally empty; but he found a usurer—­a species of animal too numerous unfortunately for young men—­who, upon a note of hand endorsed by him, gave me a thousand ducats, at five per cent. for one month, the said interest being deducted by anticipation from the capital.  It was exactly the amount I required.  I went to the supper; Croce held the bank until daylight, and we divided sixteen hundred sequins between us.  The game continued the next evening, and Gilenspetz alone lost two thousand sequins; the Jew Mendez lost about one thousand.  Sunday was sanctified by rest, but on Monday the bank won four thousand sequins.  On the Tuesday we all dined together, and the play was resumed; but we had scarcely begun when an officer of the podesta made his appearance and informed Croce that he wanted a little private conversation with him.  They left the room together, and after a short absence Croce came back rather crestfallen; he announced that by superior orders he was forbidden to hold a bank at his house.  Madame fainted away, the punters hurried out, and I followed their example, as soon as I had secured one-half of the gold which was on the table.  I was glad enough it was not worse.  As I left, Croce told me that we would meet again in Venice, for he had been ordered to quit Padua within twenty-four hours.  I expected it would be so, because he was to well known; but his greatest crime, in the opinion of the podesta, was that he attracted the players to his own house, whilst the authorities wanted all the lovers of play to lose their money at the opera, where the bankers were mostly noblemen from Venice.

I left the city on horseback in the evening and in very bad weather, but nothing could have kept me back, because early the next morning I expected a letter from my dear prisoner.  I had only travelled six miles from Padua when my horse fell, and I found my left leg caught under it.  My boots were soft ones, and I feared I had hurt myself.  The postillion was ahead of me, but hearing the noise made by the fall he came up and disengaged me; I was not hurt, but my horse was lame.  I immediately took the horse of the postillion, to which I was entitled, but the insolent fellow getting hold of the bit refused to let me proceed.  I tried to make him understand that he was wrong; but, far from giving way to my arguments, he persisted in stopping me, and being in a great hurry to continue my journey I fired one of my pistols in his face, but without touching him.  Frightened out of his wits, the man let go, and I galloped off.  When I reached the Dolo, I went straight to the stables, and I myself saddled a horse which a postillion, to whom I gave a crown, pointed out to me as being excellent.  No one thought of being astonished at my other postillion having remained behind, and we started at full speed.  It was then one o’clock in the morning; the storm had broken up the road, and the night was so dark that I could not see anything within a yard ahead of me; the day was breaking when we arrived in Fusina.