One day, when they had just finished a performance in the piazza and
were allowed to wander for a few moments by themselves, Beppo drew
Beppina to the water's edge, and, looking up at the winged lion of Saint
Mark's, said to her, "Do you remember what Carlotta said about having to
have a boat, a railroad ticket, or wings to get out of Venice?"
Beppina remembered very well.
"The wings on that lion made me think of it," said Beppo, "and I've
thought of something else too. There's another thing you need, and
that's brains! I've got those, and I'm going to get out of this
water-soaked old place or die in the attempt!"
"Oh, Beppo," breathed Beppina, "how?"
"I've got it all planned," said Beppo.
"I guess Saint Anthony must have put it into your head," sighed Beppina,
"for he takes care of all the lost people. Anyway, you haven't thought
of anything before."
"I thought of this my own self," said Beppo, rather resentfully.
"Well," said Beppina, clasping her hands, "you think, and I'll pray.
I'm going to begin a novena. I'll pray hard to Saint Anthony every day
for nine days, and ask him to please, please guide us! I'm going to
begin right now." She crossed herself and began moving her lips in
prayer, but got no farther than "Blessed Saint Anthony," when Beppo
nudged her with his elbow.
"Stop it!" he whispered, "here comes the old cat." (He meant Carlotta.)
"Don't you let her catch you praying to Saint Anthony, or she'll know
what we're up to. You can pray like fury, but say your prayers in your
heart, and then some night if I wake you up, you just keep as still as a
mouse and follow me."
Carlotta reached them just then and ordered them to go with her back to
the Cathedral to sing, and all that day there was no chance for Beppo to
explain his great idea. Beppina caught him many times with his forehead
all snarled up as if he were trying to think how much 9 times 7 was, or
something hard like that, but just what he had in mind she could not
guess.
That night when they were out in the boat, Beppo asked Luigi if he might
try to row it home, and Luigi, being willing to loaf whenever it was
possible, said he might. Beppo did so well that night that on the next
Luigi allowed him to row as well as sing, and very soon Beppo came to
know his way about the Grand Canal better than he knew the
multiplication-table--oh, much better!
At last one night, after they had gone to bed, Beppo lay still for a
long time, until he was sure that every one else in the room was asleep.
Then he quietly woke Beppina, and the two slid from their mattresses to
the floor. Here they waited a moment, for the husks rattled a little,
and then, as no one stirred, they moved stealthily to the door, carrying
their shoes in their hands. They had slept in their clothes, for they
still wore the ones Carlotta had given them, and had not seen their own
since the day she had made them change in the van.
They almost suffocated with fright as they opened the door, for it
creaked and they feared the monkey would begin to chatter, but Carina
was tired, too, and slept as soundly as the rest. In a moment they had
quietly closed it behind them, and were feeling their way in the dark,
down the stairs and through the passage at the bottom to the canal
entrance of the house, where Mario and Luigi kept their oars. Beppo had
noted carefully when they came in just where Luigi had placed his, and,
feeling cautiously along the wall with his hands, was able to locate
them in the dark. He gave his shoes to his sister, took down the oars,
and managed to get them to the door without knocking anything over or
dropping them on the stone floor.
Followed by Beppina, who was holding on to his coat and praying to Saint
Anthony under her breath, he reached the water entrance to the house,
and stood upon the landing. Luigi's boat and Mario's gondola were both
tied to a red pole beside the entrance. Beppo put one oar down on the
step, and with the other managed to reach the pointed prow of the boat,
and draw it to the step. Then he leaped in, helped Beppina in with the
shoes, took the other oar into the boat with him, and, untying the rope
which fastened it to the pole, shot out into the stream.
There was a scraping noise as the boat swung against the landing-step,
and Beppo used the oar to push it away. There was also the rattling of
the oar-locks, as he backed round and glided out into the canal, but
though he was nearly dead with excitement and fright, Beppo kept his
head. Never had he managed the boat so well. It slid through the water
like a fish. They had gone two or three hundred feet and reached the
point where the smaller waterway opened into the Grand Canal, when
Beppina was appalled to see the dim outline of another boat a little
distance behind them. "They're following!" she gasped. "Oh, Beppo,
hurry!"
Beppo bent to his oars and the boat fairly shot through the water! On
and on they sped, past the great palaces now dark and grim in starlight,
past the market-place, round the great curve of the canal, and soon to
their great relief the black boat was no longer following.
"Do you suppose it was Luigi?" gasped Beppina.
"No," said Beppo, "he couldn't possibly have got after us so quickly,
because I untied Mario's gondola too. It would drift away far enough so
Luigi would have to swim to get it, and he couldn't do it in this time,
I know. Maybe it was a police boat, or maybe it was some one going home
late. Anyway, he wasn't after us, so I don't care who he was."
"Oh, Beppo, tell me your plan. Where are we going?" begged Beppina.
"Keep still," growled Beppo; "the less noise we make the more chance
there is of our getting away."
Beppina crumpled up in the bottom and said no more, while Beppo made the
boat skim on over the dark waters. At last he turned the prow toward
shore and touched at a dock where many boats were already moored. There
was no sign of life about the place, as they disembarked. There was
only the soft lapping of the water to break the silence.
"Stoop down," whispered Beppo. "These are the boats that cross over to
Mestre on the mainland before daylight to bring fruit and vegetables
back to market, and it may be that some of the men sleep in the boats.
We might wake them."
For a few moments they listened, crouching down on the dock, and then,
as they heard no sound, Beppo gave the sandalo a shove away from shore,
and let go the rope.
"Oh," whispered Beppina, "why did you do that?"
"We don't want it any more," answered Beppo, "and if they find it,
they'll think we fell out and were drowned. Then they won't look for
us."
"Oh, Beppo," said Beppina, "what a wonderful boy you are!"
"I've been planning this a long time," Beppo answered, with a little of
his old swagger; "but we aren't out of our troubles yet."
They crept along the dock on their hands and knees until they came to
one of the largest flat-bottomed boats in the fleet. Here Beppo paused,
and, after carefully examining to be sure it was the one he was looking
for, he helped Beppina aboard, and climbed in after her. There was a
pile of empty baskets and boxes at one end of the boat, and behind these
the children hid themselves to wait for dawn. For a long time they
crouched there, listening to the thumping of their own hearts, and the
lap-lap-lapping of the water, and at last, completely exhausted with
fatigue and fright, curled up on the floor of the boat and fell sound
asleep.