Beppo awoke next morning in the early dawn, and, forgetting where he
was, stretched his cramped legs. In doing so he kicked over a basket,
which fell on Beppina. Beppina instantly sat up, and, blinking with
sleep, said quite loudly, "Where are we?" She might well ask, for
there, directly in front of her, pulling stoutly at a pair of oars, sat
a short, thick-set man with brown skin and rings in his ears. The level
rays of the sun, just rising over Venice, shone full upon his
weather-beaten face and astonished eyes, as he gazed at the apparition
before him. Just then Beppo's head appeared beside his sister's, and
the man, overcome with astonishment, "caught a crab" and splashed both
children with water before he burst into speech.
"Madonna mia!" he cried, "am I bewitched? How in the name of all the
saints in paradise did you get into this boat? You weren't in it when I
left the dock!"
"Oh, yes, we were," said Beppo. "We were behind the baskets."
"But what are you here for?" demanded the man.
"We want to go to Mestre," said Beppo.
The man regarded them suspiciously. "Do your folks know where you are?"
he asked.
"No," said Beppo. "That's why we are here. We want to get back to
them."
Beppina interrupted. "We were stolen away by gypsies," she said.