Rien n’est gai comme le bruit de ces mortaretti entendu de loin sur le lac, et adouci par le balancement des eaux ; ce bruit singulier et qui avait fait si souvent la joie de son enfance chassa les idées un peu trop sérieuses dont notre héros était assiégé ; il alla chercher la grande lunette astronomique de l’abbé, et reconnut la plupart des hommes et des femmes qui suivaient la procession.
Nothing is so gay as the sound of these mortaretti, heard at a distance on the lake and softened by the rocking of the water; this curious sound, which had so often been the delight of his boyhood, banished the somewhat too solemn thoughts by which our hero was being besieged; he went to find the Priore's big astronomical telescope, and recognised the majority of the men and women who were following the procession.