CHAPTER XI
THE EAGLE SCREAMS
Despite the glories of the Amalfi road our tourists decided it was morepleasant to loiter around Sorrento for a time than to undertake furtherexcursions. The mornings and evenings were chill, but during the middleof the day the air was warm and delicious; so the girls carried theirbooks and fancy-work into the beautiful gardens or wandered lazilythrough the high-walled lanes that shut in the villas and orange groves.Sometimes they found a gate open, and were welcomed to the orchards andpermitted to pluck freely the fragrant and rich flavored fruit, which isexcelled in no other section of the south country. Also Uncle John, withBeth and Patsy, frequented the shops of the wood-workers and watchedtheir delicate and busy fingers inlaying the various colored woods; butLouise mostly kept to the garden, where Count Ferralti, being asemi-invalid, was content to sit by her side and amuse her.
In spite of her uncle's discovery of the false position assumed by thisyoung man, Louise seemed to like his attentions and to approve hisevident admiration for her. His ways might be affected and effeminateand his conversational powers indifferent; but his bandaged wrist was aconstant reminder to all the nieces that he possessed courage and readywit, and it was but natural that he became more interesting to thembecause just now he was to an extent helpless, and his crippled hand hadbeen acquired in their service.
Uncle John watched the young fellow shrewdly, but could discover littleharm in him except his attempt to deceive them in regard to his name andposition. Yet in his mature eyes there was not much about Ferralti toarouse admiration, and the little man considered his girls too sensibleto be greatly impressed by this youthful Italian's personality. So heallowed him to sit with his nieces in the gardens as much as hepleased, believing it would be ungrateful to deprive the count of thatharmless recreation.
"A reg'lar chaperone might think differently," he reflected; "but thankgoodness there are no dragons swimming in our cup of happiness."
One day they devoted to Capri and the Blue Grotto, and afterward theylunched at the Quisisana and passed the afternoon in the town. But thecharms of Sorrento were too great for Capri to win their allegiance, andthey were glad to get back to their quaint town and delightful gardensagain.
The week passed all too swiftly, and then came a letter from ColonelAngeli telling them to return to Naples and witness the results of theeruption. This they decided to do, and bidding good-bye to SignorFloriano and his excellent hotel they steamed across the bay and foundthe "Vesuve" a vastly different hostelry from the dismal place they hadleft in their flight from Naples. It was now teeming with life, for, alldanger being past, the tourists had flocked to the city in droves. Thetown was still covered with ashes, but under the brilliant sunshine itdid not look as gloomy as one might imagine, and already thousands ofcarts were busily gathering the dust from the streets and dumping it inthe waters of the bay. It would require months of hard work, though,before Naples could regain a semblance of its former beauty.
Their friend the Colonel personally accompanied them to the towns thathad suffered the most from the eruption. At Boscatrecasa they walkedover the great beds of lava that had demolished the town--banks ofcinders looking like lumps of pumice stone and massed from twenty tothirty feet in thickness throughout the valley. The lava was still sohot that it was liable to blister the soles of their feet unless theykept constantly moving. It would be many more days before the interiorof the mass became cold.
Through the forlorn, dust-covered vineyards they drove to San Guiseppe,where a church roof had fallen in and killed one hundred and fortypeople, maiming many more. The Red-Cross tents were pitched in thestreets and the whole town was one vast hospital. Ottajano, a littlenearer to the volcano, had been buried in scoria, and nine-tenths ofthe roofs had fallen in, rendering the dwellings untenable.
From here a clear view of Mt. Vesuvius could be obtained. The shape ofthe mountain had greatly altered and the cone had lost sixty-five feetof its altitude. But when one gazed upon the enormous bulk of volcanicdeposit that littered the country for miles around, it seemed to equal adozen mountains the size of Vesuvius. The marvel was that so much ashesand cinders could come from a single crater in so short a period.
Naples was cleaning house, but slowly and listlessly. The people seemedas cheerful and light-hearted as ever. The volcano was one of theircrosses, and they bore it patiently. The theatres would remain closedfor some weeks to come, but the great Museo Nationale was open, andUncle John and his nieces were much interested in the bronze and marblestatuary that here form the greatest single collection in all the world.
It was at the Museum that Mr. Merrick was arrested for the first timein his life, an experience he never afterward forgot.
Bad money is so common in Naples that Uncle John never accepted anychange from anyone, but obtained all his silver coins and notes directlyfrom the Banca Commerciale Italiana, a government institution. Onemorning he drove with the girls to the museum and paid the cabman alira, but before he could ascend the steps the man was after him andholding out a leaden coin, claiming that his fare had given him badmoney and must exchange it for good. This is so common a method ofswindling that Uncle John paid no heed to the demands of the cabmanuntil one of the Guard Municipale, in his uniform of dark blue withyellow buttons and cap, placed a restraining hand upon the American'sshoulder.
Uncle John angrily shook him off, but the man persisted, and aninterpreter employed by the museum stepped forward and explained thatunless the cabman was given a good coin in exchange for the bad one theguarde would be obliged to take him before a commissionaire, ormagistrate.
"But I gave him a good coin--a lira direct from the bank," declaredUncle John.
"He exhibits a bad one," returned the interpreter, calmly.
"He's a swindler!"
"He is a citizen of Naples, and entitled to a just payment," said theother, shrugging his shoulders.
"You are all leagued together," said Uncle John, indignantly. "But youwill get no more money out of me, I promise you."
The result was that the stubborn American was placed under arrest.Leaving the girls at the museum in charge of Ferralti, who had made noattempt to interfere in the dispute but implored Uncle John to pay andavoid trouble, the angry prisoner was placed in the same cab he hadarrived in and, with the officer seated beside him, was publicly drivento the office of the magistrate.
This official understood no English, but he glowered and frownedfiercely when the American was brought before him. The guarde and thecabman stood with bared bowed heads and in low tones preferred thecharge against the prisoner; but Uncle John swaggered up to the desk andpounded his clinched fist upon it while he roared a defiance of Italianinjustice and threatened to "bring over a few war-ships and blow Naplesinto kingdom come!"
The magistrate was startled, and ordered the prisoner searched forconcealed weapons. Uncle John doubled his fists and dared the guarde totouch him.
Then the cabman was dispatched for someone who could speak English, andwhen an interpreter arrived the American told him to send for the UnitedStates consul and also to inform the magistrate that nothing but warbetween America and Italy could wipe out the affront that had beenthrust upon him.
The magistrate was disturbed, and preferred not to send for the consul.He offered to release Uncle John if he would give the cabman a good lirain exchange for the bad one. The official fee would be five lira--or saythree lira--or even two. Uncle John flatly refused to pay anything toanybody. Only war could settle this international complication--bloodyand bitter war. The consul must cable at once for war-ships and troops.He would insist upon it. All compromise was now impossible!
The magistrate was frightened. The guarde's eyes bulged with horror andhe trembled visibly. It was evident they had made a grave mistake inarresting this mad American, who was evidently a personage of greatimportance and able to declare war at a moment's notice. The cabman, themagistrate, the guarde and the interpreter put their heads together andchattered vol
uble Italian--all speaking at once in excited tones--whileUncle John continued to warn them at the top of his lungs that theircountry was doomed to sudden annihilation and they were the culpritsresponsible for the coming calamity.
As a result they bundled the irate American into the carriage again anddrove him poste haste back to the museum, where they deposited him uponthe steps. Then in a flash the guarde and the cabman disappeared fromsight and were seen no more.
The victor smiled proudly as his nieces rushed toward him.
"Did you have to pay another lira, Uncle?" asked Patsy, anxiously.
"Not on your life, my dear," mopping his brow vigorously. "They're a lotof cutthroats and assassins--policemen, magistrates and all--but whenthe eagle screams they're wise enough to duck."
The girls laughed.
"And did the eagle scream, then?" Patsy enquired.
"Just a little, my dear; but if it whispered it would sound mighty loudin this mummified old world. But we've lost enough time for one day.Come; let's go see 'Narcissus' and the 'Dancing Faun.'"