The gondola glided toward a landing at the edge ofthe canal. As the gondolier tied up the boat, waterwas sloshing from the canal onto a wide walkwayfilled with Carnival-goers.
The gondolier reached a gloved hand toward Annieand helped her out of the boat. He then held out ahand to Jack. When Jack grabbed it, he was surprisedthat the gondolier's hand felt small under the whiteglove, like a kid's hand.
As soon as Jack had stepped out of the boat, thegondolier untied the rope, pushed off from39the landing, and began rowing away.
"Bye! Thanks!" called Annie.
The two strangers in the white bird masks waved.
Jack and Annie watched the gondola disappear overthe choppy waters. Then they looked back at theshore. The Carnival crowd was parading up anddown the wide walkway along the canal.
"Hey, look," said Annie. "There's a bunch of peopledressed like us! And like the two people in ourgondola!"Jack saw lots of black cloaks, bird masks, funnyhats, and ruffled collars. He also saw people dressedas chickens, pirates, and knights. None of thecostumed people seemed to mind the water spillingover the edge of the canal, soaking their boots andslippers.
As Jack and Annie stared at the crowd, a distantbell began to ring. The bell rang nine times. "I guessthat means it's nine o'clock," said Jack.
40Just then another bell began to chime. Jack countedagain. This time,tenchimes rang out. "Ten?" said Jack, puzzled. "Sowhat time is it? Nine o'clock or ten o'clock?""Don't worry about that now," said Annie. "I think Isee the Grand Lady of the Lagoon!" "Where?" saidJack.
Annie pointed to a tall woman at the edge of theparade. She was wearing a black mask. She wore pilesof jewelry, a white wig, and a wide hoop skirt.
Jack and Annie moved toward the lady. "Excuseme," said Annie. "Hi."The lady looked at Annie. "Hello," she said in adeep man's voice.
"Whoa," said Jack, stepping back.
Annie laughed. "You're a man!" she said.
"Of course," said the man. "But for Carnival, I am avery beautiful lady, no?""We're looking for someone called the Grand Ladyof--" started Annie. But before she could41finish, a giant chicken grabbed the man's hand andpulled him away into the crowd.
"Oh, brother," said Jack, looking around. Lots ofpeople were dressed as grand ladies! "How are wesupposed to know who to visit?""Maybe it's time to use one of Kathleen and Teddy'srhymes," said Annie.
"No, we should save our rhymes," said Jack.
"Then let's just skip visiting the Grand Lady of theLagoon for now," said Annie. "What's thenextthing Merlin tells us to do?"Jack looked at Merlin's directions and read aloud:
To find out where you needtogo,Seek out a painter named Tiepolo.
"Good, that's clear," said Jack. "Let's see if Tiepolo isin our research book."As the noisy crowd celebrated around them, Jackpulled out the book. He stood near a lantern andlooked in the index. "He's here!" said Jack. He turnedto the right page and read:
42Tiepolo (say tee-EP-uh-lo) was one of the greatestpainters of Venice in the 1700s. He painted bright,beautiful oil paintings for palaces and villas.
"If the guy's so famous, people must know where helives," said Annie. "Excuse me!" she called to a clownwalking by. "Can you tell us where the painterTiepolo lives?""Near the Church of San Felice," the clown said.
"Thanks!" said Annie.
"But you won't find him home now," the clowncalled over his shoulder. "He's in Milan, painting.""Where's that?" shouted Jack.
"Over a day's ride on horseback," said the clown.
Then he disappeared into the crowd.
"Hmmm . . . ," said Annie. "Do you think Merlinwants us to go to Milan?""We don't have time," said Jack. "I think we have toskip Tiepolo, too."43"Yeah," said Annie. "Hey, maybe we should justskip all this stuff and try to find the Ruler of the Season our own. Our letter says he's the only one who canhelp us save the Grand Lady.""I don't know . . . ," said Jack. "In his letter, Merlintells us to be patient--"But Annie was already calling to a pirate passingby. "Sir, do you know where we can find the Ruler ofthe Seas?""What?" shouted the pirate.
"The ruler! Do you know where he lives?" yelledAnnie.
"In the palace on Saint Mark's Square!" said thepirate.
"Where's that?" Annie called. But the pirate haddisappeared into the crowd.
"I'll look up Saint Mark's Square," said Jack. Heturned the pages of their book until he came to a mapof Venice. "Oh, cool," he said. Jack loved maps.
"Okay, let's see," Jack said. "We'rehere."He44pointed to the walkway along the canal on the map.
"And we want to go to Saint Mark's Square." Hepointed to another place on the map. "It's reallyclose.""Yeah, and it looks like everyone else is headedthere, too," said Annie. "Come on.""So, if we go this way . . . ," said Jack. He tracedtheir route with his finger.
"Come on, Jack!" called Annie.
Jack looked up from the map. Annie was alreadywalking with the crowd. Jack closed the book andhurried after her. Soon they came to a huge, opensquare.
"Wow," Jack said breathlessly. Saint Mark's Squarewas filled with candlelight and musicians. Acrobatsbalanced on tightropes. Boxers boxed in a ring.
Knights fenced with swords. Clowns walked on tallstilts, raced wheelbarrows, and tried to catch live eelsin their mouths. All around the square were candlelitbuildings.
"Venice is beautiful," said Annie.
"Yeah," said Jack. He looked back at their book.
45He found an illustration of Saint Mark's Square.
Jack read the descriptions of the buildings:
The watchtower of Saint Mark's Square is thetallest building in Venice. The weather vane on toponce helped sailors by showing them which way thewind was blowing.
Jack looked up. "I can barely see the weather vaneup there," he said. "But I think it's pointing north. Sothe wind must be blowing from the south.""What about the ruler's palace? Where's that?"asked Annie.
Jack read on:
The clock tower is one of the most beautiful towersin the world. On top of the tower, a bell is struckevery hour by"Jack, skip to the ruler's palace!" interrupted Annie.
"Please!""Okay, okay," said Jack. He read about the palace:
46[Picture spans two pages: Jack holds a book openedto a page showing a city, while Annie stands in frontof him, pointing to a real city.]
4748The palace of Venice's ruler is one of the mostsplendid structures ever built. It has a great hallwhere as many as 2,000 nobles once met to discusscity matters. It also holds the city's grim prison cells.
Above the palace door is a sculpture of Saint Markshowing a book to a winged lion"There's the palace door!" said Annie.
Jack looked up from the map. Annie was headingtoward a huge door with the sculpture of a man and awinged lion above it. Jack closed the book and hurriedto catch up to her.
A guard was standing by the palace door. Theguard wore a uniform and held a rifle. "Wait," Jackwhispered. "Is he a real guard? Or is that just acostume?""I'll find out," said Annie. She walked over to theguard. "Excuse me, sir. Is the ruler of Venice insidethe palace now?""Begone, clown!" the guard said gruffly.
49"But it's important," said Annie. "We need to talk tohim about something.""I said begone!" the guard growled. "I am tired ofclowns wasting my time!""She's not really a clown," said Jack, comingforward. "We're on a mission. We--""Go! Both of you! Or else!" roared the guard. Heheld up his rifle.
He's definitely not wearing a costume,thought Jack.
"Okay, sorry, sorry," said Jack. He and Anniemoved away from the palace entrance.
"What a grouchy guy," said Annie.
"He'll never let us in," said Jack.
"Maybe it's time to use one of Teddy and Kathleen'srhymes," said Annie. "Maybe we should turn intoducks. The guard wouldn't mind if a couple of ducks-""No," said Jack. "We have to save our rhymes.""Well, how will we get inside?" Annie asked.
"Patience," said Jack. "Remember--"50Before he could finish, Annie broke in, "Hey, look!"Two clowns on stilts were dancing around theguard. One grabbed the guard's rifle and tossed it tothe other.
"Hey!" the guard yelled. "Give that back!""Now's our chance!" said Annie. "Quick!" She ran tothe entrance and slipped through the door.
"Oh, no--oh, man!" said Jack. While the guardchased after the two clowns on stilts, Jack rushed tothe doorway of the palace and slipped inside, too. |