ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

On the Appian Way _Frontispiece in Color_

The Grand Canal, Venice 2

Children feeding Pigeons in the Piazza of
St. Mark, Venice 11

Gateway of San Sebastian, Rome 68

Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct 78

The Colosseum at Rome 88

The boys of Naples eating macaroni 99

Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius 103

"The army of boys bearing baskets of earth from
the excavations of Pompeii" 106

* * * * *

RAFAEL IN ITALY

CHAPTER I

AN EVENING IN VENICE

It was a glorious summer evening. The moon, rising over the city of
Venice, shone down on towers and domes and marble palaces, and made a
golden path in the rippling waters of the lagoon.

The squares of the city were all ablaze with lights, while from every
window and balcony twinkling jets of flame found their reflection in
the canals, and lengthened into shimmering arrows of gold.

There were no sounds save the calls of the boatmen, the soft lapping
of the waves against the marble walls and steps, and occasional
strains of music from the military band in the Piazza of St. Mark.

No place in all the world shines with more brilliancy than Venice in
carnival time. The city is like a diamond, as it catches the myriad
rays from moonlight and starlight, and flashes countless answering
gleams into the shadows of the night.

It is small wonder that people travel from the farthest corners of
the earth to watch the glitter and sparkle of this City of the Sea.

It was on this summer evening that Rafael Valla, a Venetian lad of
fourteen, decided to become a soldier of the king.

He was sitting in the water-gate of his mother's house, pointing with
his toe to the reflection in the canal of a particularly large and
brilliant star. "If the starlight moves to the right of my toe," he
said to himself, "I will go to the Piazza."

He knew perfectly well that he would go to the Piazza. The music of
the band was calling to him, and the star was slowly shifting its
light, as it had done on many a night while Rafael sat waiting and
dreaming in the gateway.

The tide was gently pulling his little boat away from the
orange-and-bla