our destruction. The poor monk gave a sigh, and he still clinging to my
waist we continued climbing.

After having surmounted with the greatest difficulty fifteen or sixteen
plates we got to the top, on which I sat astride, Father Balbi imitating
my example. Our backs were towards the little island of St. George the
Greater, and about two hundred paces in front of us were the numerous
cupolas of St. Mark's Church, which forms part of the ducal palace, for
St. Mark's is really the Doge's private chapel, and no monarch in the
world can boast of having a finer. My first step was to take off my
bundle, and I told my companion to do the same. He put the rope as best
he could upon his thighs, but wishing to take off his hat, which was in
his way, he took hold of it awkwardly, and it was soon dancing from plate
to plate to join the packet of linen in the gutter. My poor companion was
in despair.

"A bad omen," he exclaimed; "our task is but begun and here am I deprived
of shirt, hat, and a precious manuscript, containing a curious account of
the festivals of the palace."

I felt calmer now that I was no longer crawling on hands and knees, and I
told him quietly that the two accidents which had happened to him had
nothing extraordinary in them, and that not even a superstitious person
would call them omens, that I did not consider them in that light, and
that they were far from damping my spirits.

"They ought rather," said I, "to warn you to be prudent, and to remind
you that God is certainly watching over us, for if your hat had fallen to
the left instead of to the right, we should have been undone; as in that
case it would have fallen into the palace court, where it would have