rely Imperial
and Royal! Indeed he had no consciousness of himself as distinct from
the Austrian governing organism. Receiver at a small frontier
customs-house, he considered himself the point of the nail on a finger
of the state; then, as a police-agent, he considered himself a
microscopic eye under that nail. His life was that of the monarchy. If
the Russians tickled the skin of Galicia, he felt the itching at Oria.
The greatness, the power, the glory of Austria inflated him with
unbounded pride. He would not admit that Brazil was vaster than the
Austrian Empire, or that China was more thickly populated, or that the
Archangel Michael could take Peschiera, or the Almighty Himself take
Verona. His real Almighty was the Emperor; he respected the One in
Heaven as an ally of the one at Vienna.

So, although he had never suspected that Engineer Ribera was an
unfaithful subject, the Commissary's words--gospel truth to him--had
carried conviction with them, and the idea of getting hold of this
untrustworthy servant fired the zeal of the royal eye and the imperial
finger nail. He called himself an ass for not having seen through this
man before. Oh, but there was still time to catch him and hold him fast,
fast, fast! "You just leave it to me! Just leave it to me, Signor
Comm----"

He broke off suddenly and seized the rod. Gently, almost without moving,
the float had printed a ring on the water, the sign of a tench. Bianconi
clutched the rod tight, holding his breath. Another dip of the float,
another and larger ring; the float moved slowly, slowly upon the water,
and then stopped. Bianconi's heart was beating violently; the float
moved still a little further on the surface, and then went under; zag!
Bianconi gave a jerk, and the rod bowed with the tugging on the line of
a hidden fish. "Peppina, I've got him!" shouted Carlascia, losing his
head. "The _guadell_, the _guadell_!" The customs-guard turned round
enviously: "Have you got him, _Scior Recitor_?" Custant, consumed with
envy, gave no sign, not even turning his tall hat. Rati and Signora
Peppina came rushing up, the latter bringing the _guadell_, a long pole
with a large net at the end of it, used for bagging the tench in the
water, for it would be a desperate risk to lift it up by the line.
Bianconi took the line and began drawing it in very slowly. The tench
was not yet visible, but must surely be enormous. The line came in
smoothly for a few feet, and then was jerked