"He'll be all out of practice," he mourned, "and the next time we try him
he'll forget and lose his way home."
But Paolo was reassuring. "Never you fear," he replied; "I have heard that
the most important messages are entrusted to birds that have young in the
nest. That is when the love of home is strongest."
And so it proved: when Chico was once more tried, he surprised them by the
swiftness of his flight. In fact, in some instances he actually made more
than thirty miles an hour.
The spring advanced: there were other eggs in the nest, and other broods
to be cared for, and always Chico remained the faithful husband and
father--tender to his fledgling offspring--loving and true to his little
wife.
And, whenever household cares permitted, the two could be seen on the
window ledge, billing and cooing:
"Coo-oo, coo-oo-oo, Ruk-at-a-coo."
CHAPTER X
A GALA DAY
At last the new Campanile was completed. When the historic old bell tower
had fallen that morning in July, the people had been stunned and had given
way to such grief as only Italians feel over the loss of a thing of beauty.
It had fallen at nine-thirty in the morning, and when the Town Council met
that evening, it had been at once decided that immediate steps be taken to
erect a new tower, "dov'era, com'era" (where it was and as it was). And in
this all Italy concurred. The first stone had been laid on St. Mark's day,
April 25, 1903.
Slowly the graceful tower had risen from the confused mass of debris at its
base, no effort being spared to make it as strong and beautiful as possible
to conceive.
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