It is two
stories high, with small windows, and the whitewashed stone walls
made it look more like a lazaretto than any thing else. Here they
stopped two hours to feed the horses and to take their dejeuner. The
place was at this time kept by a miserable old man and his wife, on
whom the unhealthy atmosphere of the marshes seemed to have brought a
premature decay. Obed could not speak Italian, so that he was
debarred from the pleasure of talking with this man; but he exhibited
much sympathy toward him, and made him a present of a bundle of
cigars--an act which the old man viewed, at first, with absolute
incredulity, and at length with unutterable gratitude.

Leaving this place they drove on for about two miles, when suddenly
the carriage in which Obed and the family were traveling fell forward
with a crash, and the party were thrown pell-mell together. The
horses stopped. No injury was done to any one, and Ohed got out to
see what had taken place. The front axle was broken.

Here was a very awkward dilemma, and it was difficult to tell what
ought to be done. There was the other carriage, but it was small, and
could not contain the family. The two maids, also, would have to be
left behind. Obed thought, at first, of sending on his family and
waiting; but he soon dismissed this idea. For the present, at least,
he saw that they would have to drive back to the inn, and this they
finally did. Here Obed exerted all his ingenuity and all his
mechanical skill in a futile endeavor to repair the axle. But the
rough patch which he succeeded at last in making was so inefficient
that, on attempting to start once more, the carriage again broke
down, and they were forced to give up this hope.

Three hours had now passed away, and it had already grown altogether
too late to think of trying to finish the journey. Again the question
arose, what was to be done? To go back was now as much out of the
question as to go forward. One resource only seemed left them, and
that was to stay here for the night, and send back to Terracina for a
new carriage. This decision Obed finally arrived at, and he
communicated it to his valet, and ordered him to see if they could
have any accommodations for the night.

The valet seemed somewhat alarmed at this proposal.

"It's a dangerous place," said he. "The country swarms with brigands.
We had better take the ladies back."

"Take the ladies back!" cried Obed. "How can we do that? We can't all
cram int