He spoke excellent Italian, and his manner was dignified and self possessed.
"Diable!" said Yonin, "nous avons ici un philosophe!"
"Can you speak German or French, little chap?" I said.
"No," he replied in Italian, "non parlo che Illirico ed Italiano."
I gave him coins to the amount of about a franc; but when he saw so much money in the palm of his hand—an amount which, to his eyes, seemed perfectly fabulous—his first impulse was to hold it out to me again, thinking I was joking with him; but when I assured him it was veramente tutto per lui, he cut three capers in the air, and rushed away to where some other children were, to show his treasures and recount his good fortune. Of all the subjects of the Emperor of Austria, in all his vast dominions, I venture to say that the happiest on that night was that little beggar brat in the secluded little city of Cattaro at the far end of his empire in the extreme point of Dalmatia.
CHAPTER XII.
MONTENEGRIN TRADERS—LE SCALE DI CATTARO—A GORGEOUSLY-ATTIRED MONK—OUR CARAVAN—MONTENEGRINS OF THE PRINCE'S BODY-GUARD—INTERESTING VIEW—ABSENCE OF TREES ON THE DALMATIAN COAST—A HOME FOR GERMAN EMIGRANTS—TURKISH MISRULE IN EUROPE—A FUTURE EMPIRE—A MAN FIT TO RULE.