The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss Caprice, by St. George Rathborne

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Title: Miss Caprice

Author: St. George Rathborne

Release Date: June 3, 2005 [EBook #15979]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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MISS CAPRICE

By ST. GEORGE RATHBORNE

Author of "Dr. Jack," "Dr. Jacks Wife," "Captain Tom," "Baron Sam,"
"Miss Pauline of New York," etc.

1893

CHAPTER I.

"COWARD!"

A little party of tourists might be seen one lovely day in January, on
the hill back of the city of Valetta, on that gem of Mediterranean
islands, Great Britain's Malta.

The air is as clear as a bell, and the scene is certainly one to charm
the senses, with the blue Mediterranean, dotted with sails, a hazy line
far, far away that may be the coast of Africa, the double harbor below,
one known as Quarantine, where general trade is done, the other, Great
Harbor, being devoted to government vessels.

Quaint indeed is the appearance of the Maltese city that rests mostly
upon the side of the hill under the fortifications, a second Quebec as
it were.

The streets are, some of them, very steep, the houses, built of
limestone, generally three stories in height, with a flat roof that
answers the same purpose as the Spanish or Mexican _azotea_.

Valetta has three city gates, one the Porta Reale, through which our
little tourist group came to reach their present position, leads to the
country; the Porta Marsamuscetto to the general harbor where lie craft
of all nations, while the government harbor is reached by means of the
Marina gate.

Thus they hold to many of the ways of Moorish and Mohammedan countries.

The fortifications of limestone are massive--England has a second
Gibraltar here.

In general, the Maltese speak a language not unlike the Arabic, though
English and Italian are used in trade.

They are a swarthy, robust, fearless people, strong in their loves and
hates, and the vendetta has been known