In any case, it was Odo's
first business to see his companion safely across the border; and in
that endeavour he had now little fear of being thwarted. If the Duke's
messenger awaited them at Peschiera he waited in vain; and though their
flight across the lake might be known before dawn it would then be no
easy matter to overtake them.
In an hour's time, as Odo had hoped, they were putting off from the
shore in a blunt-nosed fishing-boat which was the lightest craft the
village could provide. The lake was stark calm, and the two boatmen,
silhouetted against the moonlight, drove the boat forward with even
vigorous strokes. Fulvia, shivering in the autumnal chill, had drawn her
hood close about her and sat silent, her face in shade. Measured by
their secret apprehensions the boat's progress seemed at first
indescribably slow; but gradually the sounds from the shore grew
fainter, and the fugitives felt themselves alone in a world enclosed by
the moonlit circle of the waters.
As they advanced this sense of isolation and security grew deeper and
more impressive. The motionless surface of the lake was enclosed in a
wall of mountains which the moonlight seemed to vein with marble. A sky
in which the stars were dissolved in white radiance curved high above
their heads; and not a sail flecked the lake or a cloud the sky. The
boat seemed suspended alone in some ethereal medium.
Presently one of the boatmen spoke to the other and glanced toward the
north.
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