After the first course they appeared in crimson damask; after the
second, they changed their costumes to crimson velvet; while at
the end of the dinner they appeared in the usual garb of wealthy
Venetians.
"Now, my friends," said Marco, "I will show you something that will
please you." He then brought into the room the rough Tatar coats
which he and his father and uncle had worn when they reached
Venice. Cutting open the seams, he took from inside the lining
packets filled with rubies, emeralds and diamonds. It was the
finest collection of jewels ever seen in Venice.
The guests were now persuaded that their hosts were indeed what
they claimed to be.
II
Eight hundred years before Marco Polo's birth, some of the people
of North Italy had fled before the Attila to the muddy islands of
the Adriatic and founded Venice upon them. Since then the little
settlement had become the most wealthy and powerful city of Europe.
Venice was the queen of the Adriatic and her merchants were princes.
They had vessels to bring the costly wares of the East to their
wharves; they had warships to protect their rich cargoes from the
pirates of the Mediterranean; they carried on wars.
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