The wind had died down, the rain had ceased, and from between the blue-black clouds the moon shone out.  Gian rowed with a strong, fine stroke, singing a “Te Deum Laudamus” softly to himself the while.

I lay there and wept, thinking of my boat, my all, my precious boat!

We reached the landing—­and there was my boat, safely tied up, not a cushion nor a cord missing.

Gian Bellini?  He may be a rogue as Pascale Salvini says—­God knows!  How can I tell—­I am only a poor gondolier!

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So here then endeth the Volume entitled “The Mintage,” the same being Ten Stories and One More written by Elbert Hubbard.  The whole done into a printed book by The Roycrofters at their Shop, which is in the Village of East Aurora, Erie County, New York State, this year of Grace mcmx and from the founding of The Roycroft Shop the Sixteenth.