But in order that the narrative may proceed regularly, it is
fit that we should return a little in the order of time.
CHAPTER IX.
"Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair,
Anticipating time with starting courage."
SHAKSPEARE.
It has been seen that the gondolas, which were to contend in the race,
had been towed towards the place of starting, in order that the men
might enter on the struggle with undiminished vigor. In this precaution,
even the humble and half-clad fisherman had not been neglected, but his
boat, like the others, was attached to the larger barges to which this
duty had been assigned. Still, as he passed along the canal, before the
crowded balconies and groaning vessels which lined its sides, there
arose that scornful and deriding laugh, which seems ever to grow more
strong and bold, as misfortune weighs most heavily on its subject.
The old man was not unconscious of the remarks of which he was the
subject; and, as it is rare indeed that our sensibilities do not survive
our better fortunes, even he was so far conscious of a fall as not to be
callous to contempt thus openly expressed. He looked wistfully on every
side of him, and seemed to seek in every eye he encountered, some
portion of the sympathy which his meek and humble feelings still craved.
But even the men of his caste and profession threw jibes upon his ear;
and though, of all the competitors, perhaps the one whose motive most
hallowed his ambition, he was held to be the only proper subject of
mirth.
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