Out with Garibaldi: A story of the liberation of Italy

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XIII.

  ACROSS THE STRAITS.

  Garibaldi had, on entering Messina, been received with tremendousenthusiasm, and at once, while waiting for the reinforcements nowpouring in, set himself to work to improve the condition of affairs inthe town. He had taken up his abode in the royal palace, where heretained all the servants of the former viceroy, considering that itwould be unjust to dismiss them. He ordered, however, that his owndinner was to consist only of some soup, a plate of meat, and somevegetables. The large subscriptions that flowed in from Italy and othercountries were entirely devoted to public service, as had been the moneytaken in the treasury at Palermo; the general allowed himself only, aspay, eight francs a day, and this was always spent before breakfast; foralthough at Messina, as at Palermo, he endeavoured to clear the streetsof beggars, he himself was never able to resist an appeal, and no soonerhad he sauntered out in the morning than his eight francs melted awayamong the children and infirm persons who flocked round him.

  He received Frank on his arrival with real pleasure, and congratulatedhim upon having so completely recovered from the effects of his wound.

  "There is plenty for you to do," he said; "almost every hour ships bringme volunteers from all parts. Arrangements have to be made forbestowing and feeding these. We found a considerable supply of tentshere, but they are now occupied, and all arrivals henceforth will haveto be quartered on the citizens or in the villages near the town. A listwill be given to you, every morning, of persons who are willing toreceive them, and a mark will be made against the names of those of abetter sort, among whom the officers will be quartered. I beg that youwill act in concert with Concini and Peruzzi, and as the troops landgive them their billets, and in the case of officers conduct them to thehouses where they are to be lodged. Of course you yourself will take upyour abode here; there is an abundance of room, and I will order theservants to set aside a comfortable chamber for you. All who are in thepalace take their early breakfast here, the rest of their meals theytake in the town. I have enemies enough, and I do not wish it to be saidthat we are spending the funds so generously subscribed for us infeasting in the palace. In the evening, you know, you will always bewelcome here."

  It was, of course, too late in the day for Frank's work to begin; butlater on he again went to the room where Garibaldi was chatting withseveral of his staff.

  "Bixio has been telling me of your adventure," Garibaldi said: "it was asad business. The death of Rubini is a grievous loss to me. He foughtmost gallantly in the Alps, and distinguished himself greatly since welanded here; he was a true patriot, and I shall miss him sorely. Othersthere were who died with him, whom I also greatly regret. The oneredeeming point in the affair is, as Bixio has been telling me, theadmirable way in which you succeeded in saving the little party of whomyou were in command. He has detailed the matter in full to me, and theoldest head could not have made better preparations for defence, orbetter hit upon a plan by which you might at once save any stragglers ofRubini's detachment who might return, and at the same time ensure thesafety of the five men with you. There will be a steamer going toMarseilles in the morning, and it will be a pleasure to me to againwrite to your mother, saying how well you have done, and how completelyyou have recovered from your wound. The last time I wrote, although Ihad as warm a praise to give of your conduct, I abstained from tellingher that you were seriously wounded. No doubt you would give her fullparticulars in your own letters."

  Frank's duties, in the way of billeting the troops as they arrived, wereof short duration. So rapidly did crowds of volunteers arrive from thenorth of Italy, that it was found impossible to house them in Messina.Many were sent off to outlying villages; thousands bivouacked on thesandy shore. Garibaldi himself went across to Sardinia, and returnedwith two thousand five hundred men who had been gathered there for adescent upon the coast of the Papal States. The Italian government had,however, vetoed this movement, and had promised that their own troopsshould, when the time came, perform this portion of the operations. Theport was crowded with shipping. By the convention that had been agreedupon between Garibaldi on his entrance to Messina, and the Neapolitangeneral who commanded the force that occupied the citadel, it wasarranged that the sea should be open to both parties; and the singularspectacle was presented of the Neapolitan navy looking quietly on whileships arrived loaded with troops for Garibaldi, while the Sardinianships-of-war viewed with equal indifference the arrival ofreinforcements to the garrison of the citadel.

  Garibaldi's force had now increased to over twenty-five thousand men; ofthese but five thousand were Sicilians, the rest, with the exception ofa few French and English volunteers, coming from Northern Italy. Herethe enthusiasm caused by the conquest of Sicily was unbounded. Theuniversities had all closed their doors, the students having left in abody; and among the volunteers were hundreds of boys of from thirteen tofifteen years old. Garibaldi had, with the aid of the Municipality ofPalermo, raised a loan of nearly three million pounds, and obtained, notonly rifles for his own force, but a large number for distribution amongthe peasants of Calabria.

  Five days after his arrival, Garibaldi sent for Frank, and said:

  "I am going to bestow on you an honour which will, I am sure, be oneafter your own heart. I am going to send Missori with two hundred menacross the straits; Nullo goes with him. They are to choose the men, andthe competition for the honour of being among the first to set foot inCalabria will be a keen one indeed; I have spoken to Missori, and hewill gladly take you as his staff officer. Of course it is not intendedthat he should fight. His mission will be to travel about the country,inciting the population of the Calabrian villages to prepare to join uswhen we land; to confuse the commanders of the Neapolitan troops by hisrapid movements, and to cause alarm at Naples by the news that theinvasion of Calabria has begun."

  "I should enjoy that greatly, general, and I feel very much obliged toyou for your kindness in choosing me."

  As Major Missori had been on Garibaldi's staff from the time Frankjoined him at Genoa, he was well known to him; and when Frank visitedhim, and placed himself under his orders, he received him with greatcordiality.

  "The general could not have made a better choice," he said. "It is agreat satisfaction to have an officer with me on whose activity andenergy I can so confidently rely. I have just got through the hardest,and I may say the most trying part of my work, for I have had to refusethe applications of scores of old comrades, who, almost with tears intheir eyes, have begged me to enroll them among my party. But I amlimited to two hundred, and when I had once selected that number I wasobliged to say no to all others. I think that every man of my band iswell suited for the work: all are young, active men, capable of longmarches and the endurance of great fatigue; all are men of triedbravery, and should we have a brush with the Neapolitans can be trustedto hold their own. We hope to seize the fortress of Alta Fiumara; wehave opened communication with some soldiers of the garrison, and havehopes that we may take it by surprise. If we can do so, it will greatlyfacilitate the passage of the army across the straits.

  "Here is a list of the stores we are to take in the boats. Of course themen will each take eighty rounds of ammunition; we can carry no reserve,for if we have to take to the mountains it would be impossible totransport it. Therefore, you see, we practically take with us only aday's provisions. These will be carried down before sunset to the boats,and I wish you would see them so divided that each man will carryapproximately the same weight. Thus one can take four pounds of bread,another four pounds of meat, a third two bottles of wine and so on; oncein the hills we can purchase what we require at the villages. Therewill, at any rate, be no difficulty in obtaining meat, nor, I shouldsay, bread. Beyond that nothing is necessary.

  "Three Calabrians, who know the country well, crossed yesterday, andwill act as our guides. We shall probably have to maintain ourselves fora week or ten days before the main body crosses. A cart will go down atfour o'clock with the stores. I will order six men to acc
ompany it, andto place themselves under your orders. In the cart you will find twohundred haversacks, in which the provisions will be placed, after youhave seen to their division, together with forty rounds of spareammunition. By the way, you had better sell your horse. Across such acountry as we shall have to traverse, it would be impossible to ride,and you will probably be able to buy another on the mainland for the sumthat you will get for him here. There are a good many men on the staffof some of the late arrivals, who are on the look-out for horses."

  Frank, indeed, had several times been asked by officers if he could tellthem where they could procure mounts; and, in the course of the day, hehad no difficulty in disposing of his horse and saddlery, for the sameamount as he had given for them at Marsala. He took with him only aspare shirt and pair of socks rolled up in a large blanket, that, with ahole cut in the middle, served as a cloak by day and a cover at night.Hitherto this had been strapped on his saddle; he now rolled it up inthe fashion followed by most of the Garibaldians, so as to carry itslung over one shoulder. This, with his sword, a brace of pistols, and asmall haversack, was his only encumbrance. At the appointed hour he wentdown with the cart and escort to the point, some two miles from thetown, where the boats were lying. It took an hour to make the divisionof the stores, and then there was nothing to do until, at half-pastnine o'clock in the evening, Missori with his two hundred men marcheddown.

  There were fourteen boats, and as these were sufficient to carry the menin comfort, no time was lost in embarking. It was a long row, foralthough the water was perfectly calm there was a strong current throughthe straits, and they had to row head to this while crossing; but twohours after starting they landed at a short distance from the fort. Theysoon had evidence that the commandant here was watchful, for they hadgone but a hundred yards when they suddenly came upon a small outlyingpicket, who, after challenging, fired, and then ran off towards thefort, where the beating of a drum showed that the garrison were alreadyfalling in to repel any attack. Their hopes of a surprise were thereforeat an end, and as it was by surprise alone that the little force had theslightest chance of capturing so strong a fortress, orders were given,after a hasty consultation between Missori and Nullo, to turn off atonce and make for the mountains, while the boats were directed to startback for Messina.

  Headed by their guides, they mounted the slopes of Aspromonte. When theyhad gained a height of some four or five hundred feet, they came upon awooden shed; this was hastily pulled down and a great bonfire lighted,to inform their friends on the other side of the straits that they hadsafely landed and were on their way to the hills. They had, as theyascended, heard a sharp fire break out at the water's edge, and knewthat a portion of the garrison of the fortress had sallied out andopened fire on the retreating boats.

  The march was continued for some hours. The cannon of the fort had alsoopened fire--the object doubtless being to inform the large bodies oftroops, gathered at various points along the coast to oppose theGaribaldians should they cross, that a force of the enemy had landed inthe darkness. However, the little party made their way unobserved pastthe enemy's outposts, who remained stationary, as the officers wereignorant of the strength of the force that had thus evaded the vigilanceof the ships-of-war, and thought it probable that Garibaldi himself withsome thousands of men might be at hand.

  This portion of Calabria was admirably suited for guerilla warfare. TheGaribaldians were received with enthusiasm at the first village at whichthey arrived. The news of the easy conquest of Sicily had at firstfilled all hearts with the hope that their day of liberation was athand; but the concentration of troops in South Calabria had damped theirspirits, for, accustomed for centuries to be treated like cattle by thesoldiers of their oppressors, it seemed to them well-nigh impossiblethat Garibaldi would venture to set foot on the mainland in the face ofso imposing a gathering. The presence, then, of this band of men in redshirts seemed to them almost miraculous. The inhabitants vied with eachother in their hospitality, and the able-bodied men of the placedeclared their readiness to take up arms the moment that Garibaldihimself crossed the straits. Many of them, indeed, at once joined theparty, while others started, some among the mountains and some by theroads leading to other villages, in order to bring in early news of theapproach of any body of Neapolitan troops, and the Garibaldians weretherefore able to lie down for a few hours' sleep.

  For the next week they continued their march, visiting village aftervillage, gathering recruits as they went, crossing mountains, winding upravines, and constantly changing their course so as to throw theNeapolitan troops off their track. Several times from lofty points theycaught sight of considerable bodies of the enemy moving along the roads.Once a Neapolitan officer rode into a village where they were haltingwith a despatch from General Briganti, containing a demand for theirsurrender. Missori simply replied that they were ready to give battlewhenever the supporters of tyranny chose to meet them; but, although hethus answered the summons, he had no idea of encountering anoverwhelming force of Neapolitans. Failing the capture of the fortresson first landing, his mission was to arouse the population, not tofight; and he continued his work among the mountains in spite of theefforts of the enemy to surround him.

  Cavalry were useless in so mountainous a country, and the Garibaldians,free from all weight of equipment, and unencumbered by baggage carts,were able to move with a rapidity that set at defiance the efforts ofthe soldiery hampered by knapsacks and belts, and with their movementsrestricted by their tightly-fitting uniforms. Although their course hadbeen devious, the Garibaldians had been gradually working their waysouth, skirting the heights of Montalto. Before starting, Missori hadbeen informed by Garibaldi that he intended to land near Reggio eight ornine days after he crossed, and that he was to place his band in thatneighbourhood in order to join him in an attack on that town.

  When he reached a point within ten miles of Reggio, Missori said toFrank, "I must keep moving about, and cannot leave my men; but I willsend twenty of them under your command down to Melito. There are, as wehave learnt from the peasants, none of the Neapolitan troops there; butat the same time do not on any account enter the town. Were you to doso, some of the inhabitants might send word to Reggio; and it might besuspected that you were there for some special purpose. Therefore hideyourself among the hills a short distance from the town; and afternightfall send one of your men in. He had better take one of thepeasants' cloaks and hats: it will be ample disguise for him. It will behis duty to watch on the shore; and then, if he sees two or threesteamers--I cannot say what force Garibaldi will bring over--approachthe shore, tell him to come up to you at once; and you can then leadyour men down to cover, if necessary, the landing of the troops, and togive them any aid in your power. Tell the general that I have now eighthundred men with me, and am ready to move to any point he orders."

  These instructions Frank carried out, except that he obtained twopeasants' cloaks and hats instead of one. He halted late in theafternoon two miles behind the town, and when it became quite dark tookdown his men within a quarter of a mile of it; then, assuming one of thedisguises, he proceeded with one of the party similarly habited into thetown. He posted his follower by the shore, and then re-entered theplace. A good many peasants in their high conical hats, with wide brimsadorned with ribbons--a costume which is now generally associated withItalian brigands, and differs but slightly from that of theSavoyards--were wandering about the town. All sorts of rumours werecurrent. It was reported that the Neapolitan war-ships were on thelook-out for vessels in which it was said Garibaldi was about to crossfrom Messina and the Cape of Faro. Others reported that Garibaldihimself was with the small corps that had been, for the past week,pursued among the mountains, and whose ever-increasing numbers had beengreatly exaggerated by rumour.

  Frank seated himself in front of a wine-shop where several of these menwere drinking. He could with difficulty understand their patois; but hegathered that all wished well to the expedition. An hour later he hearda tumult, and going t
o see what was the matter, he found that one of thepolice officers of the town had accosted the man he had left upon thesea-shore, and finding that he was ignorant of the patois of thecountry, had arrested him. Four or five other agents of themunicipality, which consisted of creatures of the Neapolitan government,had gathered round the captive; and the inhabitants, although evidentlyfavourably disposed towards the prisoner, were too much afraid of thevengeance of their masters to interfere. After hesitating a moment,Frank ran back to the wine-shop where he had been sitting. His greatfear was that the Neapolitan agents would at once send news to Reggiothat a spy had been taken, and that the garrison there would be put ontheir guard. He therefore entered, and throwing aside his cloak,addressed the eight or ten peasants present.

  "My friends," he said, "I am one of the officers of Garibaldi, who willsoon come to free you from your tyrants. As true Italians, I doubt notthat your hearts are with him; and you now have it in your power to dohim a real service."

  All rose to their feet. "We are ready, signor. Tell us what we have todo, and you can rely upon us to do it."

  "I want you to post yourselves on the road to Reggio a hundred yardsbeyond the town, and to stop any one who may try to leave the place, nomatter whether he be a police officer or the syndic. We have a largeforce near; but we do not wish to show ourselves till the proper moment.It is all-important that no news of our being in the neighbourhoodshould reach the commander of the troops at Reggio."

  "We will do it, signor; be assured that no one shall pass long."

  "Simply turn back the first that comes," Frank said; "if more come, killthem; but I want these agents of your tyrant to know that the road isclosed. I could place our own men to do this, but I do not wish it knownthat there are troops near."

  The men hurried away, and Frank went off and followed the little crowdthat accompanied the prisoner and his captors to the house of thesyndic. He watched them go in, and in a short time several of the policeleft the house, and ere long returned with some eight or ten personswhom Frank judged to be the municipal council. He waited for a minute ortwo, and then went to the door.

  "Stand back," he said, to two men who barred the entrance. "I am one ofGaribaldi's officers. I have hundreds of my peasants round the town,ready to lay it in ashes if I but give the word."

  They slipped back, confounded by the news; and entering, he went into aroom of which the door was standing open. The man who had been left onwatch was standing between four policemen; his cloak had been torn off,and he stood in the red shirt, blue breeches and gaiters, that had nowbecome the uniform of the greater portion of Garibaldi's followers. Someten or twelve men were seated by a large table, and were talkingeagerly. Frank again threw back his cloak, walked up and struck thetable with his fist.

  "'SILENCE! SIGNORS,' HE SAID IN A LOUD VOICE"]

  "Silence, signors!" he said in a loud voice. "I am the master of thistown for the present: it is surrounded by armed peasants who areinstructed to cut the throats of any one who attempts to leave it. I aman officer of Garibaldi, as you may see by my attire. I have but to givethe word, and in ten minutes the whole of you will be strung up from thebalcony of this house; therefore, if you value your lives, retire atonce to your houses, and, agents though you be of the Neapolitan tyrant,no harm will befall you; but if one of you attempts to leave the town,or to send any one out with a message, his life will be forfeited. Thatwill do, sirs: leave at once."

  The astounded men filed out from the room. When they had all left, Frankwent out with the late prisoner, locked the door, and put the key in hispocket.

  "Put on your hat and cloak again," he said, "and go down to the road bythe sea; watch if any one goes along, and stay a quarter of an hour tosee if he returns."

  Then, without putting on his own disguise, he went to the spot where thetownspeople, among whom the report of what had happened had spreadrapidly, were assembled, and mounting on the steps of a large buildingthere, addressed them.

  "Calabrians," he said, "the moment when your freedom will be attained isat hand. You have heard that a party of troops of that champion offreedom, General Garibaldi, has crossed to the mainland. The officer incommand has sent me to tell you that they are everywhere joined by thebrave Calabrians, and will speedily have a force capable of givingbattle to the armies of your tyrants. It may be that before many daysthey will come down here from the mountains, and he hopes to find everyman capable of bearing arms ready to join him; it will be a bad day forthose who, in spite of the wishes of the people, and the certainty thatCalabria will shortly be freed from the presence of the troops atNaples, strive to check the tide.

  "For your own sakes watch the men who have acted as the agents of thegovernment of Naples; station armed men on every road by which theycould send a message to Reggio, for should they do so troops might besent here, and then, when the soldiers of freedom come down from thehills, a battle will be fought in your streets, and many innocentpersons might suffer. I do not ask any to come forward now, to declarehimself for the cause of freedom; I only ask you to hold yourselves inreadiness, so that when we come down from the hills you will welcome us,as men welcome those who come to strike the fetters from their limbs. Itmay be that you will not have long to wait, and that in eight-and-fortyhours Missori with a portion of his army will be here. But this I do askyou: keep an eye on your syndic and his council, on the police, and allothers who represent the authority of Naples, and see that no one on anypretence leaves the town for the next forty-eight hours."

  The town was a very small one, and a large portion of its populationwere fishermen; these latter shouted loud approval of Frank's words, anddeclared themselves ready to carry out the instructions he had giventhem, but the trading class was silent. They had something to lose, andhad been so long accustomed to the tyranny of the government that theyfeared to make any demonstration whatever of liberal opinions until theysaw how matters went. It was upon them that the taxes pressed mostheavily, and they had far more reason than the fishing class to hail arelease from these exactions; but they had more to lose, and they feltthat it was best to hold themselves aloof from any manifestation oftheir feelings. The fishermen, however, thronged round Frank, andannounced themselves ready at once to obey his orders.

  "Divide yourselves into four parties," he went on; "let each choose aleader and take it in turn to watch the roads and see that none passes."

  At this moment Frank's follower returned. "Two of the police went outalong the road," he said, "but have just come back."

  "I am not surprised at what I have just heard," he went on, addressingthe fishermen. "The police have already endeavoured to send word toReggio that our friends from the hills are shortly coming here, but theyhave been stopped on the way by some brave peasants whom I stationed onthe road for the purpose. How many police are there here?"

  "Only eight, signor," one of the men said.

  "Come with me, and I will warn them that if any attempt is again made tosend word of what is going on here they will be at once hanged."

  Followed by forty or fifty fishermen, he went at once to the policequarters. The sergeant who was in command came out with his detachment.

  "Men," Frank said, "we bear no ill-will to those who serve theNeapolitan government. It has been the government of this country, andnone are to be blamed for taking service with it; and I doubt not thatwhen, like Sicily, Calabria is free, those who have done their duty,without undue oppression and violence, will be confirmed in theirappointments. But woe be to those who oppose the impulse of the country!There are thousands of peasants in the mountains already in arms. TheNeapolitan soldiers, who were powerless to oppose the people of Sicily,will be equally powerless to oppose the people of Calabria, aided asthese will be, when the time comes, by the great army from the otherside of the straits. Already, as you know, sir," he said to the officer,"the roads leading from here are guarded. You have made an effort, aswas perhaps your duty, to send word to Reggio that the heart of thepeople here beats with those of t
heir brethren among the hills. Letthere be no further attempts of the sort, or it will be bad, alike forthose who go and for those who stay, and when Colonel Missori arrivesyou will be treated as the enemies of freedom and punished accordingly.

  "Already I have a detachment close at hand, and the sound of a gun willbring them here at once; but if all is quiet these will not enter theplace until the main body arrives. I have come on before, to see whetherthe people here are to be regarded as friends or as enemies. I alreadyknow that they are friends; and in the name of Colonel Missori, and inthe cause of freedom, I order you to remain quiet here, to take no stepseither for or against us, and I doubt not that, when the time comes, youwill be as ready as the brave fellows here to join the army of freedom.At present my orders are that you remain indoors. I will have no goingout, no taking notes as to the names of those who join our cause. I donot order you to give up your arms; I hope that you will use them in thecause of freedom."

  "Your orders shall be obeyed, signor," the sergeant said. "I ampowerless to interfere one way or another here, but I promise that nofurther attempt shall be made to communicate with Reggio."

  "I accept your word, sergeant. And now you will send a man round to thehouses of all the town council and all functionaries of the Neapolitangovernment, and state that, by the orders of the representative ofColonel Missori, they are none of them to leave their houses for thenext forty-eight hours; and that they are not to attempt to communicatewith each other, or to send any message elsewhere. Any attempt whateverto disobey this order will be punished by immediate death. Which man doyou send?"

  "Thomasso," the sergeant said. "You have heard the order. Will you atonce carry it round?"

  "Let four of your men," Frank said to the fishermen, "go with thispoliceman. See that he delivers this message, and that he enters into nocommunication whatever with those to whom he is sent, but simply repeatsthe order and then goes to the next house."

  Four men stepped forward, and at once started with the policeman. Thesergeant and the others withdrew into the house.

  "Now, my friends," Frank went on to the fishermen, "do as I told you,and let the first party take up at once the duty of watching the roads,and remain there for six hours. It is now ten; at four the second partywill relieve them, and so on at intervals of six hours. It will not belong ere the necessity for this will be at an end. Each party willdetach eight men in pairs to patrol the streets till morning and arrestany one they find about, and conduct him to the hotel where I shall takeup my quarters. Those not on duty had best retire quietly to theirhomes, as soon as it is settled to which section they are to belong. Ishall not go to bed, and any question that may arise must at once bereferred to me."

  The fishermen went off to the shore to choose their leaders.

  "Rejoin your comrades," Frank said to his follower. "Tell them thateverything is going on well, and that while two of them are to come downat once to keep watch on the beach, the rest can wrap themselves intheir cloaks and lie down until they receive orders from me."

  Frank now went to the one hotel in the town and ordered supper to beprepared for him. The landlord, who had been among the crowd when headdressed them, said humbly,--

  "I have already ordered supper to be got ready, signor, thinking thatwhen you had arranged matters you would yourself come here. Pray do notthink that because many of us did not at once come forward and offer tojoin you, it was because we were indifferent to your news; but you seeit is not with us as with the fishermen. If things go badly, they canembark their families and goods in their boats, cross the straits, andestablish themselves in the villages there, and earn their living asbefore. But with us who have something to lose it is different. Ourproperty would be confiscated, we should be driven from home, many of uswould be shot, and others thrown into their dungeons."

  "I quite see that, landlord; and I can hardly blame you for hesitating alittle, though you must remember that the men who have been thechampions of freedom have been almost wholly men who have had much tolose, but have risked all for their principles, and that Garibaldi'sarmy is very largely composed of such men."

  "Ah, signor, but we have never seen any chance of success. WhenGaribaldi once lands, we shall not hang back; but at present it is but arevolt of the peasants. They tell us that France and other powers areendeavouring to prevent him from invading Calabria; and if he shouldnot come, what can a few thousand peasants do against a hundred thousandtrained troops?"

  "Well, I do not think that Garibaldi will be restrained from crossing,whatever pressure is put upon him: they tried to prevent him fromsailing from Genoa--now he is Dictator of Sicily; he will land somewhereon the coast, never fear."

  "In that case, signor, I shall shout as loud as any one, and I shallsend my son to carry a musket in his ranks."

  Frank smiled.

  "Well, landlord, let me have my supper; to-morrow we may talk over theaffair again. Bring me a bottle of good wine, and when supper is servedyou can close the house for the night. I shall not require a bed, butshall remain here till morning. Do not fasten up the front door, as Ishall have men call frequently. I hope there are plenty of provisions inthe town in case three or four thousand men should march in hereto-morrow."

  "For a day, signor, we might feed them; but I doubt if it would gobeyond that."