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sizes and uses, which it met in
its passage. Palace after palace had been passed, and more than one of
the principal canals, which diverged towards the different spectacles,
or the other places of resort frequented by his master, was left behind,
without Don Camillo giving any new direction. At length the boat arrived
opposite to a building which seemed to excite more than common
expectation. Giorgio worked his oar with a single hand, looking over his
shoulder at Gino, and Gino permitted his blade fairly to trail on the
water. Both seemed to await new orders, manifesting something like that
species of instinctive sympathy with him they served, which a long
practised horse is apt to show when he draws near a gate that is seldom
passed unvisited by his driver.
    The edifice which caused this hesitation in the two gondoliers was one
of those residences at Venice, which are quite as remarkable for their
external riches and ornaments as for their singular situation amid the
waters. A massive rustic basement of marble was seated as solidly in the
element as if it grew from a living rock, while story was seemingly
raised on story, in the wanton observance of the most capricious rules
of meretricious architecture, until the pile reached an altitude that is
little known, except in the dwellings of princes. Colonnades,
medallions, and massive cornices overhung the canal, as if the art of
man had taken pride in loading the superstructure in a manner to mock
the unstable element which concealed its base. A flight of steps, on
which each gentle undulation produced by the passage of the barge washed
a wave, conducted to a vast vestibule, that answered many of the
purposes of a court. Two or three gondolas were moored near, but the
absence of their people showed they were for the use of those who dwelt
within. The boats were protected from rough collision with the passing
craft by piles driven obliquely into the bottom. Similar spars, with
painted and ornamented heads, that sometimes bore the colors and arms
of the proprietor, formed a sort of little haven for the gondolas of the
household, before the door of every dwelling of mark.
    "Where is it the pleasure of your eccellenza to be rowed?" asked Gino,
when he found his sympathetic delay had produced no order.
    "To the Palazzo."
    Giorgio threw a glance of surprise back at his comrade, but the obedient
gondola shot by the gloomy, though rich abode, as if the little bark had
suddenly obeyed an inward impulse. In a moment more it whirled aside,
and the hollow sound, caused by the plash of water between high walls,
announced its entrance into a narrower canal. With shortened oars the
men still urged the boat ahead, now turning short into some new channel,
now glancing beneath a low bridge, and now uttering, in the sweet shrill
tones of the country and their craft, the well known warning to those
who were darting in an opposite direction. A backstroke of Gino's oar,
however, soon brought the side of the arrested boat to a flight of
steps.
    "Thou wilt follow me," said Don Camillo, as he placed his foot, with the
customary caution, on the moist stone, and laid a hand on the shoulder
of Gino; "I have need of thee."
    Neither the vestibule, nor the entrance, nor the other visible
accessories of the dwelling were so indicative of luxury and wealth as
that of the palace on the great canal. Still they were all such as
denoted the residence of a noble of consideration.
    "Thou wilt do wisely, Gino, to trust thy fortunes to the new gondola,"
said the master, as he mounted the heavy stone stairs to an upper floor,
pointing, as he spoke, to a new and beautiful boat, which lay in a
corner of the large vestibule, as carriages are seen standing in the
courts of houses built on more solid ground. "He who would find favor
with Jupiter must put his own shoulder to the wheel, thou knowest, my
friend."
    The eye of Gino brightened, and he was voluble in his expression of
thanks. They had ascended to the first floor,