Page:De Amicis - Heart, translation Hapgood, 1922.djvu/299

Rh they could never issue forth; now they sailed out on vast expanses of water, having the aspect of great tranquil lakes, then among islands again, through the intricate channels of an archipelago, amid enormous masses of vegetation. A 'profound silence reigned. For long stretches the shores and vast, solitary waters produced the impression of an unknown stream, upon which this poor little sail was the first in all the world to venture itself.

The further they advanced, the more this monstrous river dismayed him. He imagined that his mother was at its source, and that their navigation must last for years. Twice a day he ate a little bread and salted meat with the boatmen, who, perceiving that he was sad, never addressed a word to him. At night he slept on deck and woke every little while with a start, astounded by the limpid light of the moon, which silvered the immense expanse of water and the distant shores; and then his heart sank within him. “Cordova!” He repeated that name, “Cordova!” like the name of one of those mysterious cities of which he had heard in fables. But then he thought, “My mother passed this spot; she saw these islands, these shores”; and then these places upon which the glance of his mother had fallen no longer seemed strange and solitary to him.

At night one of the boatmen sang. That voice reminded him of his mother's songs, when she had lulled him to sleep as a little child. On the last night, when he heard that song, he sobbed. The boatman interrupted his song. Then he cried, “Courage, courage, my son! What the deuce! A Genoese crying