not really sufficient for five hundred. Many
had clambered up the rigging, or sat out on the
bowsprit, and when an officer fainted from the
excessive heat, and showed few signs of
recovery, the General had him placed in a boat
and hoisted up between the masts—a measure
which, I believe, saved his life.

I suffered terribly, for I was close to the
steam-stack, and so overcome by heat and
suffocation, that all passed before me like a dreadful
nightmare. The noise and tumult were deafening.
Garibaldi did his utmost to enforce silence.
He declared that if by our uproar we attracted
the attention of Albini's squadron and were
pursued, the whole expedition might be
frustrated and destroyed. It was no use; the
Picciotti were beyond all control of themselves or
others.

I know I was far from being clear-headed, or
that my faculties were in a state to form a
calm or correct judgment, but I felt at the time
that for no human consideration, for no bribe
ambition could offer me, would I consent to be
the chief of such a horde. As I clambered
upon a bulwark to get a moment's fresh air, I
was not a little abashed at the ill humour I had
given way to, as I saw the helmsman at the
wheel calmly smoking his cigar with a cheerful
countenance. It was General Garibaldi
himself who was steering, and following the track
of the Abattucci, about four miles in advance
of us.

We dropped anchor in a little bay under
Melito, where the Abattucci was lying when
we came up. The first boat that went on shore
contained Menotti, Guastalla, and two or three
of the staff. They found a suitable landing-
place at once; no very difficult matter, for we
had no heavy ordnance, nor, indeed, guns of
any kind. The boats which carried the men
carried their baggage, and the most unwieldy
article of transport I remember was an old
South American saddle of Garibaldi's, which
required two stout fellows to bring up from the
boat.

There was a hearty laugh when some one
asked where was the military chest, but none of
us liked to confess that we thought the joke an
ugly one, and even those who liked it least took
their share in the merriment. Some one, I
forget who it was, confided to me a small carpet-
bag with the General's name on it, two heavy
bridles, and a copper kettle. I was given to
understand that they were Garibaldi's own
property, and I did not disdain to take care of
them, the more as I saw the General himself
toiling up the hill in front of me with a rather
heavy bundle slung over his sword on his
shoulder, and his grey overcoat carried in a strap
with the other hand.

As we struggled in a long line up the cliffs,
halting at moments to take breath, or turning
to have a look at the scene beneath, I came
close up to Garibaldi on a little platform of
ground which overlooked the sea for an
immense extent. He was gazing over the broad
expanse of tranquil blue sea, and looking at a
ship which, some six miles away, was heading
to the south under easy steam. She dipped her
ensign as we looked, and Garibaldi, calling out
"That was for me!" added, " Viva l'Inghilterra!"
—England for ever—and now we could
plainly see the broad stripes of the British flag
as they floated out to the breeze; and we
cheered again and again, in the hope they might
hear us.

A sailor near me somewhat damped the
ardour of my delight by whispering that the
ship must have been returning some salute of
another vessel, for it was impossible she could
have seen us, or known what we were.

I was told that evening that I was to accompany
Menotti's brigade; with which, until a
vacancy occurred on the staff, I was to serve,
but that I might reasonably expect to be made
an officer within the month. I was not at all
impatient; if I had less of influence, I had fewer
responsibilities.

We were scarcely on the heights of Melito
when scouts were sent out on all sides to
apprise the country people of our presence, and
let them know of a good market for their
produce.

We were rather a sorry set to look at—our
clothes ragged, our equipment scanty, our
cheeks the very reverse of plump or rosy; and
with all this, I never in my life saw a merrier or
jollier party than we presented on that 25th of
August, as we sat down on the crest of a hill
over the sea, and proceeded to make our first
breakfast in Calabria.

It was late in the afternoon before the scouts
returned, but we were so much occupied in the
interval cleaning arms and accoutrements,
filling up the various rolls—for we had left
about twelve hundred of ours behind us at
Catania—that we had little time to think of
other things. At length the tidings got about
that the scouts had returned with evil tidings,
but what they were, none could say. Some
averred that all the reinforcements which were
to have joined us had dispersed and disbanded.
Others, that Ratazzi had changed his mind, and
determined that, instead of to Rome, we were
to go to Greece and assist the revolution there;
a few, wiser than these, opined that we were to
be discouraged by all the means the government
could command, and compelled to lay down our
arms and go home again. However men took
the tidings, the gloom became general. Such a
revulsion from the joy of the morning was almost
impossible to imagine.

From a young Cararese attached to the staff,
called Fabricotti, I learned the truth. The
peasantry had all fled. The agents of the government
had been before us, and had actually swept
the country clean of everything. They had
moved the corn from the granaries and driven
away the cattle. So that Sahara itself was
not a more perfect desert than the heights of
Melito.

It was true this system could not have been
extended to the towns, and so the General had
a sent Corte forward as far as Reggio, to explore