aestro Paolo," as they termed him, wore such a profoundly serious
face all the while, from his sea-sickness, that the fun never came to an
end. As they were going to a religious festival, some of them had brought
their breviaries along with them; but I am obliged to testify that, after
the first day, prayers were totally forgotten. The sailors, however, wore
linen bags, printed with a figure of the Madonna, around their necks.

The sea was rather rough, but Caesar and I fortified our stomachs with a
bottle of English ale, and as it was dark by this time, sought our
resting-places for the night. As we had paid double, _places_ were assured
us in the coop on deck, but beds were not included in the bargain. The
Maltese, who had brought mattresses and spread a large Phalansteriau bed
in the hold, fared much better. I took one of my carpet bags for a pillow
and lay down on the planks, where I succeeded in getting a little sleep
between the groans of the helpless land-lubbers. We had the _ponente_, or
west-wind, all night, but the speronara moved sluggishly, and in the
morning it changed to the _greco-levante,_ or north-east. No land was in
sight; but towards noon, the sky became clearer, and we saw the southern
coast of Sicily--a bold mountain-shore, looming phantom-like in the
distance. Cape Passaro was to the east, and the rest of the day was spent
in beating up to it. At sunset, we were near enough to see the villages
and olive-groves of the beautiful shore, and, far behind the nearer
mountains, ninety miles distant, the solitary cone of Etna.

The second night passed like the first, except that our bruised limbs were
rather more sensitive to the texture of the planks. We crawled out of our
coop at dawn, expecting to behold Catania in the distance; but there was
Cape Passaro still staring us in the face. The Maltese were patient, and
we did not complain, though Caesar and I began to make nice calculations as
to the probable duration of our two cold fowls and three loaves of bread.
The promontory of Syracuse was barely visible forty miles ahead; but the
wind was against us, and so another day passed in beating up the eastern
coast. At dusk, we overtook another speronara which had left Malta two
hours before us, and this was quite a triumph to our captain, All the oars
were shipped, the sailors and some of the more courageous passengers took
hold, and we shot ahead, scudding rapidly along the dark shores, to the
sound of the