eped into the deserted pharmacy in the lower story, where
the shelves were still filled with rare old pottery jars with the three
mounts and cross and olive-branches upon them. "I am the only physician
now," said the padre, "and must have my medicines nearer home." In
walking over the rocks the visitors noticed, to their surprise, that,
instead of being barren, they were covered with the thick growth of a
short plant, which, like the chameleon, had made itself invisible by
turning gray like the rock. In answer to their inquiries they learned
that it was the absinthe plant, belonging to the same family as the
Swiss plant from which the liquor is made that is eating up the brains
of the French nation; but here it forms the harmless food of the sheep,
and from their milk the famous creta cheese is made,--"called creta from
the rock, which means in English chalk, I think," continued the padre.
"You have noticed its pungent taste at table, have you not?" The ladies
hastened to repair their omission, for it is so celebrated that they
ought to have said something about it. After age has hardened and
mellowed it, no cheese in Italy is so highly esteemed.

They went, too, to see how the young eucalyptus-trees were
flourishing,--the object of the padre's great solicitude. "We cannot
sleep with our windows open, on account of the bad air, and I have been
corresponding with the Father Trappists in the Roman Campagna about the
cultivation of these trees as a purifier, and am most anxious as to the
result. If I could reduce the fever among the poor people about here, I
should be more content to leave them when my summons comes."

The owls were flying above them in the cypresses as they neared the
convent, and came swooping down above their heads as the padre imitated
their melancholy hoot. Seeing Beppo in the distance, he called to him to
go for the guns. Whether owls merit to be the symbol of wisdom or no,
they flew away in ever wider circles as soon as the guns and dogs
appeared, and could not be decoyed back. The last rays of light lit up
the gun-barrels as the party went in at the heavy door: the clashing
sound of the bolt and chains, the yelping of the dogs, the guns
glistening in the glimmer of light which came in through the cloister,
made a scene which must often have had its counterparts in the feudal
keeps of the Middle Ages, when the robber knights returned with their
booty.

After supper they went to see a marvel of con