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.
Left alone, his ill luck brought him face to face with twenty
constables (_sbirri_). 'In a moment I conceived that they knew
everything, and were come to capture me, and of a truth I saw that it
was over with me. As swiftly as I could I quickened pace and got into
a church, near to which was the house of a Compagnia, and the one
opened into the other, and knelt down and prayed, commending myself
with fervour to God for my deliverance and safety. Yet while I prayed,
I kept my eyes well open and saw the whole band pass the church,
except one man who entered, and I strained my sight so that I seemed
to see behind as well as in front, and then it was I longed for my
poignard, for I should not have heeded being in a church.' But the
constable, it soon appeared, was not looking for Bibboni. So he
gathered up his courage, and ran for the Church of San Spirito, where
the Padre Andrea Volterrano was preaching to a great congregation.
He hoped to go in by one door and out by the other, but the crowd
prevented him, and he had to turn back and face the _sbirrí_. One
of them followed him, having probably caught sight of the blood upon
his hose. Then Bibboni resolved to have done with the fellow, and
rushed at him, and flung him down with his head upon the pavement,
and ran like mad and came at last, all out of breath, to San Marco. It
seems clear that before Bibboni separated from Bebo they had crossed
the water, for the Sestiere di San Polo is separated from the Sestiere
di San Marco by the Grand Canal. And this they must have done at the
traghetto di San Spirito. Neither the church nor the traghetto are
now in existence, and this part of the story is therefore obscure.[14]
Having reached San Marco, he took a gondola at the Ponte della Paglia,
where tourists are now wont to stand and contemplate the Ducal Palace
and the Bridge of Sighs. First, he sought the house of a woman of the
town who was his friend; then changed purpose, and rowed to the palace
of the Count Salici da Collalto. 'He was a great friend and intimate
of ours, because Bebo and I had done him many and great services in
times passed. There I knocked; and Bebo opened the door, and when he
saw me dabbled with blood, he marvelled that I had not come to grief
and fallen into the hands of justice, and, indeed, had feared as much
because I had remained so long away.' It appears, therefore, that the
Palazzo Collalto was their rendezvous. 'The Count was from home; but
being known to all his people, I played the master and went into the
kitchen to the fire, and with soap and water turned my hose, which had
been white, to a grey colour.' This is a very delicate way of saying
that he washed out the blood of Alessandro and Lorenzo!
Soon after the Count returned, and 'lavished caresses' upon Bebo and
his precious comrade. They did not tell him what they had achieved
that morning, but put him off with a story of having settled a
_sbirro_ in a quarrel about a girl. Then the Count invited them to
dinner; and being himself bound to entertain the first physician of
Venice, requested them to take it in an upper chamber. He and his
secretary served them with their own hands at table. When the
physician arrived, the Count went downstairs; and at this moment a
messenger came from Lorenzo's mother, begging the doctor to go at once
to San Polo, for that her son had been murdered and Soderini wounded
to the death. It was now no longer possible to conceal their doings
from the Count, who told them to pluck up courage and abide in
patience. He had himself to dine and take his siesta, and then to
attend a meeting of the Council.
About the hour of vespers, Bibboni determined to seek better refuge.
Followed at a discreet distance by Bebo, he first called at their
lodgings and ordered supper. Two priests came in and fell into
conversation with them. But something in the behaviour of one of
these good men roused his suspicions. So they left the house, took a
gondola, and told the man to row hard to S. Maria Zobenigo. On the way
he bade him put them on shore, paid him well, and ordered him to wait
for them. They landed near the palace of the Spanish embassy; and here
Bibboni meant to seek sanctuary. For it must be remembered that the
houses of ambassadors, no less than of princes of the Church, were
inviolable. They offered the most convenient harbouring-places to
rascals. Charles V., moreover, was deeply interested in the vengeance
taken on Alessandro de' Medici's murderer, for his own natural
daughter was Alessandro's widow and Duchess of Florence. In the palace
they were met with much courtesy by about forty Spaniards, who showed
considerable curiosity, and told them that Lorenzo and Alessandro
Soderini had been murdered that morning by two men whose description
answered to their appearance. Bibboni put their questions by and asked
to see the ambassador. He was not at home. In that case, said Bibboni,
take us to the secretary. Attended by some thirty Spaniards, 'with
great joy and gladness,' they were shown into the secretary's chamber.
He sent the rest of the folk away, 'and locked the door well, and then
embraced and kissed us before we had said a word, and afterwards bade
us talk freely without any fear.' When Bibboni had told the whole
story, he was again embraced and kissed by the secretary, who
thereupon left them and went to the private apartment of the
ambassador. Shortly after he returned and led them by a winding
staircase into the presence of his master. The ambassador greeted
them with great honour, told them he would strain all the power of
the empire to hand them in safety over to Duke Cosimo, and that he had
already sent a courier to the Emperor with the good news.
So they remained in hiding in the Spanish embassy; and in ten days'
time commands were received from Charles himself that everything
should be done to convey them safely to Florence. The difficulty was
how to smuggle them out of Venice, where the police of the Republic
were on watch, and Florentine outlaws were mounting guard on sea and
shore to catch them. The ambassador began by spreading reports on the
Rialto every morning of their having been seen at Padua, at Verona, in
Friuli. He then hired a palace at Malghera, near Mestre, and went out
daily with fifty Spaniards, and took carriage or amused himself with
horse exercise and shooting. The Florentines, who were on watch, could
only discover from his people that he did this for amusement. When
he thought that he had put them sufficiently off their guard, the
ambassador one day took Bibboni and Bebo out by Canaregio and Mestre
to Malghera, concealed in his own gondola, with the whole train of
Spaniards in attendance. And though, on landing, the Florentines
challenged them, they durst not interfere with an ambassador or come
to battle with his men. So Bebo and Bibboni were hustled into a coach,
and afterwards provided with two comrades and four horses. They rode
for ninety miles without stopping to sleep, and on the day following
this long journey reached Trento, having probably threaded the
mountain valleys above Bassano, for Bibboni speaks of a certain
village where the people talked half German. The Imperial Ambassador
at Trento forwarded them next day to Mantua; from Mantua they came to
Piacenza; thence, passing through the valley of the Taro, crossing
the Apennines at Cisa, descending on Pontremoli, and reaching Pisa at
night, the fourteenth day after their escape from Venice.
When they arrived at Pisa, Duke Cosimo was supping. So they went to
an inn, and next morning presented themselves to his Grace. Cosimo
received them kindly, assured them of his gratitude, confirmed them
in the enjoyment of their rewards and privileges, and swore that they
might rest secure of his protection in all parts of his dominion. We
may imagine how the men caroused together after this reception. As
Bibboni adds, 'We were now able for the whole time of life left us
to live splendidly, without a thought or care.' The last words of his
narrative are these: 'Bebo from Pisa, at what date I know not, went
home to Volterra, his native town, and there finished his days; while
I abode in Florence, where I have had no further wish to hear of wars,
but to live my life in holy peace.'
So ends the story of the two _bravi_. We have reason to believe,
from some contemporary documents which Cantù has brought to light,
that Bibboni exaggerated his own part in the affair. Luca Martelli,
writing to Varchi, says that it was Bebo who clove Lorenzo's skull
with a cutlass. He adds this curious detail, that the weapons of
both men were poisoned, and that the wound inflicted by Bibboni on
Soderini's hand was a slight one. Yet, the poignard being poisoned,
Soderini died of it. In other respects Martelli's brief account agrees
with that given by Bibboni, who probably did no more, his comrade
being dead, than claim for himself, at some expense of truth, the
lion's share of their heroic action.