260 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



in it, and we had shoved away from land, did I feel 

 sure that nothing could cheat me of my hopes. And 

 as we emerged from the Grand Canal, ay, there was 

 St. Mark's, and the Masts, and the Palace of the Doge, 

 all as I had seen them a thousand times in pictures, 

 in drawings, and in my fancy. All was there I 

 missed nothing I recognized every spot. Yet as the 

 gondola lay moored against the steps, and the waters 

 of the Adriatic gurgled under the prow, I still stared 

 in wonderment, and even then asked myself, Can it 

 really be ? And at last when I stood on the pavement, 

 and passed between the columns at the landing-place, 

 I looked up and told myself gladly, I had lived to see 

 the winged Lion of St. Mark. 



But now to the Forester, for in his hand lies my 

 fate. His house lay just out of the village, and so 

 crowded was the street that to reach it was a matter 

 of time. The booths and the gaudy throng of pea- 

 sants formed a merry scene ; but the prettiest spot was 

 the cattle-market, where picturesque groups had col- 

 lected, here, some young girls with kids ; there, two 

 old men bargaining for a calf that a chubby boy was 

 fondling ; and, best of all, childhood was everywhere to 

 be seen, a pleasant sight always, and in any picture. 



The kind forester gave me a few words to one of 

 the under-keepers, whose district was a short distance 

 off; and though here, as everywhere else, the game 

 had of late been destroyed by wholesale, he still had 

 hopes that I might get a shot. 



" However I cannot promise you/' he added ; "for 



