Page 106 of Dark Tides
“What does he mean that I have to report?”
“If you see or hear anything that you think is a danger to the Republic, you write the name of the person on a slip of paper, and what they said or did, and you feed it to the lion.”
“What?”
He smiled grimly at her increasing alarm. “See that lion’s head on the dockside? Set into the wall?”
Sarah turned and saw, like a wall fountain, a lion’s head carved in marble, its mouth gaping wide. “Yes?”
“It’s a postbox. Shaped like a lion, or a wild man, or any kind of thing. You’ll see them all over. You put your denunciation into the mouth of the lion—the Bocca di Leone—and one of the officials collects it, they collect every day, and they read everything, everything anyone says, and they arrest those they think might be guilty and take them away.”
“But anyone could say anything!” Sarah protested.
“Oh, yes, they do.”
“But they must arrest hundreds of people!”
Captain Shore smiled grimly. “That’s the idea.”
“Where do they take the prisoners?” Sarah asked nervously.
He pointed back down the Grand Canal.
“To the Doge’s Palace. You saw that great palace that we came by?”
Sarah nodded.
“He lives there like a king; but he’s not a king. He’s one of the great men of Venice, but he prides himself on being a servant of the people. He works with the Council of Ten. Together, they rule the Republic, the greatest power in Europe. Hundreds of men, thousands of men work for him, like a court; but not a court. They don’t dance or sing or play or hunt like our court. They’re not a court of fools. They work, all day, all night, in absolute secret. They make trade treaties and agreements with every country under the sun, they spy on every country in the world, they sell to every country in the world, and they watch their own people, night and day, and pick them up at the least sign of trouble. The people of Venice have the wealthiest, safest city in the world because they’re watched, night and day, by themselves.”
“A city of spies?”
“Exactly. You didn’t mention meeting your husband to the officer?”
“He asked me what was the purpose of my visit—so I told him about my work.”
“As you wish. But if he asks me, I’m not going to lie for you.”
“No,” she said. “It’s not a secret. I just didn’t mention it.”
He laughed shortly. “No such thing in this city.” He took up a rope and lashed the gangplank tighter to the stanchion on deck. “There, you’ve got your papers, you’re certified clean, I’ve told you how to report, you can go. Into a city of spies.” He looked at the young woman. “That steward—he’ll bring your choice of goods to the quay here? And do the paperwork like last time? He has to declare it at the Custom House. If he says it’s private furniture, it’s his own word on it, not mine.”
Sarah nodded. “Can you tell me how to find him?” she asked humbly. “I have his address, I thought it would be easy to find—but I didn’t expect it to be all water…”
He laughed shortly. “You have the address of his house?”
“I thought I’d walk down a road!”
He pointed to one of the idling children. “Get one of them to lead you,” he said.
“Are they safe?” Sarah asked doubtfully, looking at the crowd of begging children.
“This is Venice,” he said again. “Nobody commits a crime unless they are unseen in complete darkness and probably working for the state. Nobody dares. Pay the lad a farthing. And pay the boatman what he asks. They don’t cheat either.”
“They don’t cheat?” she asked incredulously.
“They don’t dare. They’d be reported at once. And come back inside two weeks. We sail as soon as we are loaded, we’re not allowed to stay beyond our time. Already they’ve issued our papers. If you’re not here, I’ll go without you. And get the goods here sooner rather than later; they’ll want to inspect them.”
“I will.”
