The narrator wakes up earlier than usual, so he decides to go for a boat ride through the still-sleeping-dawn. The gondolas are made of logs, and the palinas are marked with numbers on them. The narrator tells us that this is the "old palina" of the company, and he wonders how old it is. He wonders how much he has changed since he joined the company. The palina will be proof of his time in the company and will be a reminder of his reunion with the three of them.