and his whole time--except for an hour or two daily which he had, as
the son of a well to do citizen, spent in learning to read and
write--had been occupied in games and exercises of one kind or other.

Since his arrival in Venice he had not altogether discontinued his
former habits. At his earnest solicitation, his father had permitted
him to attend the School of Arms, where the sons of patricians and
well-to-do merchants learned the use of sword and dagger, to hurl the
javelin, and wield the mace and battleaxe; and was, besides, a
frequenter of some of the schools where old soldiers gave private
lessons in arms to such as could afford it; and the skill and strength
of the English lad excited no slight envy among the young Venetian
nobles. Often, too, he would go out to one of the sandy islets, and
there setting up a mark, practise with the bow. His muscles too, had
gained strength and hardness by rowing. It was his constant habit of an
evening, when well away from the crowded canals in the gondola, with
Giuseppi, the son and assistant of his father's gondolier, to take an
oar, for he had thoroughly mastered the difficult accomplishment of
rowing well in a gondola; but he only did this when far out from the
city, or when the darkness of evening would prevent his figure from
being recognized by any of his acquaintances, for no Venetian of good
family would demean himself by handling an oar. Francis, however,
accustomed to row upon the Thames, could see no reason why he should
not do the same in a gondola, and in time he and his companion could
send the boat dancing over the water, at a rate which enabled them to
overtake and distance most pair-oared boats.

After breakfast next morning he went down to the steps, where Beppo and
Giuseppi, in their black cloth suits with red sashes round their
waists, were waiting with the gondola in which Mr. Hammond was going