"Si, Signore," answered Rafael, "I have been looking for one," and he held the boat still while the officer found a seat.
CHAPTER II
VIVA L'ITALIA!
"Do you like our lovely Venice?" Rafael asked, as the boat slipped away with oar and tide toward the bridge.
"Not well enough to stay here forever," answered the man, with a smile.
The boy opened his eyes in surprise. How could any one wish to leave the city after once seeing it! As for himself, he adored the place. To slip with his boat in and out of the canals and the lagoon, to dive from the steps and bridges and chase the other boys through the water, to listen to the music in the Piazza at night, seemed to him the only life worth living.
But the stranger was speaking again. "I could have been happy here centuries ago, when the city was in the making," he said. "It would have been glorious to fight for the right to live on these islands, and to have a hand in building such palaces and churches. Those were days of service for the men who loved their city."
Rafael knew well the history of Venice. As the officer spoke, the boy's eyes turned to the stately walls of the Doge's palace, and to the domes of the great churches; and he thought of the early Venetians who gave their lives in loving service for their country.