The Dodge Club Part 7

The Captain was right. He could do nothing. The travellers would have to swallow their rage.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Genoa, The Superb.]

Imagine them looking all day at the loveliest of Italian scenes-- the glorious city of Genoa, with all its historic a.s.sociations!-- the city of the Dorias, the home of Columbus, even now the scene of events upon which the eyes of all the world were fastened.

Imagine them looking upon all this, and only looking, unable to go near; seeing all the preparations for war, but unable to mingle with the warriors. To pace up and down all day; to shake their fists at the scene; to fret, and fume, and chafe with irrepressible impatience; to scold, to rave, to swear--this was the lot of the unhappy tourists.

High in the startled heavens rose the thunder of preparations for the war in Lombardy. They heard the sounds, but could not watch the scene near at hand.

The day was as long as an ordinary week, but at length it came to an end. On the following morning steam was got up, and they went to Leghorn.

"I suppose they will play the same game on us at Leghorn," said d.i.c.k, mournfully.

"Without doubt," said b.u.t.tons. "But I don't mind; the bitterness of Death is past. I can stand any thing now."

Again the same tantalizing view of a great city from afar. Leghorn lay inviting them, but the unlucky pa.s.sport kept them on board of the vessel. The Senator grew impatient, Mr. Figgs and the Doctor were testy; d.i.c.k and b.u.t.tons alone were calm. It was the calmness of despair.

After watching Leghorn for hours they were taken to Civita Vecchia.

Here they rushed down below, and during the short period of their stay remained invisible.

At last their voyage ended, and they entered the harbor of Naples.

Glorious Naples! Naples the captivating!

"_Vede Napoli_, _e poi mori_!"

There was the Bay of Naples--the matchless, the peerless, the indescribable! There the rock of Ischia, the Isle of Capri, there the slopes of Sorrento, where never-ending spring abides; there the long sweep of Naples and her sister cities; there Vesuvius, with its thin volume of smoke floating like a pennon in the air!

[Ill.u.s.tration. Their n.o.ble Excellencies.]

CHAPTER VI.

LAZARONI AND MACARONI.

About forty or fifty lazaroni surrounded the Dodge Club when they landed, but to their intense disgust the latter ignored them altogether, and carried their own umbrellas and carpet-bags. But the lazaroni revenged themselves. As the Doctor stooped to pick up his cane, which had fallen, a number of articles dropped from his breast-pocket, and among them was a revolver, a thing which was tabooed in Naples. A ragged rascal eagerly s.n.a.t.c.hed it and handed it to a gendarme, and it was only after paying a piastre that the Doctor was permitted to retain it.

Even after the travellers had started on foot in search of lodgings the lazaroni did not desert them. Ten of them followed everywhere.

At intervals they respectfully offered to carry their baggage, or show them to a hotel, whichever was most agreeable to their n.o.ble Excellencies.

Their n.o.ble Excellencies were in despair. At length, stumbling upon The Cafe dell' Europa, they rushed in and pa.s.sed three hours over their breakfast. This done, they congratulated themselves on. Having got rid of their followers.

In vain!

Scarcely had they emerged from the cafe than d.i.c.k uttered a cry of horror. From behind a corner advanced their ten friends, with the same calm demeanor, the game unruffled and even cheerful patience, and the same respectful offer of their humble services.

In despair they separated. b.u.t.tons and d.i.c.k obtained lodgings in the Strada di San Bartollomeo. The Senator and the other two engaged pleasant rooms on the Strada Nuova, which overlooked the Bay.

Certainly Naples is a very curious place. There are magnificent edifices--palaces, monuments, castles, fortresses, churches, and cathedrals. There are majestic rows of buildings; gay shops, splendidly decorated; stately colonnades, and gardens like Paradise.

There are streets unrivalled for gayety, forever filled to overflowing with the busy, the laughing, the jolly; das.h.i.+ng officers, noisy soldiers, ragged lazaroni, proud n.o.bles, sickly beggars, lovely ladies; troops of cavalry galloping up and down; ten thousand caleches das.h.i.+ng to and fro. There is variety enough everywhere.

All the trades are divided, and arranged in different parts of the city. Here are the locksmiths, there the cabinet-makers; here the builders, there the armorers; in this place the basket-weavers, in that the cork-makers.

And most amusing of all is the street most favored of the lazaroni.

Here they live, and move, and have their being; here they are born, they grow, they wed, they rear families, they eat, and drink, and die.

A long array of furnaces extends up the street; over each is a stew-pan, and behind each a cook armed with an enormous ladle. At all hours of the day the cook serves up macaroni to customers. This is the diet of the people.

In the cellars behind those lines of stew-pans are the eating-houses of the vulgar--low, grimy places, floors incrusted with mud, tables of thick deal worn by a thousand h.o.r.n.y hands, slippery with ten thousand upset dishes of macaroni. Here the pewter plates, and the iron knives, forks, and spoons are chained to the ma.s.sive tables. How utter must the dest.i.tution be when it is thought necessary to chain up such worthless tras.h.!.+

Into one of these places went b.u.t.tons and d.i.c.k in their study of human nature. They sat at the table. A huge dish of macaroni was served up.

Fifty guests stopped to look at the new-comers. The waiters winked at the customers of the house, and thrust their tongues in their cheeks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lazaroni And Macaroni.]

d.i.c.k could not eat, but the more philosophical b.u.t.tons made an extremely hearty meal, and p.r.o.nounced the macaroni delicious.

On landing in a city which swarmed with beggars the first thought of our tourists was, How the mischief do they all live? There are sixty thousand lazaroni in this gay city. The average amount of clothing to each man is about one-third of a pair of trowsers and a woolen cap.

But after spending a day or two the question changed its form, and became, How the mischief can they all help living? Food may be picked up in the streets. Handfuls of oranges and other fruits sell for next to nothing; strings of figs cost about a cent.

The consequence is that these sixty thousand people, fellow-creatures of ours, who are known as the lazaroni of Naples, whom we half pity and altogether despise, and look upon as lowest members of the Caucasian race, are not altogether very miserable. On the contrary, taken as a whole, they form the oiliest, fattest, drollest, noisiest, sleekest, dirtiest, ignorantest, prejudicedest, narrow-mindedest, s.h.i.+rtlessest, clotheslessest, idlest, carelessest, jolliest, absurdest, rascaliest--but still, all that, perhaps--taken all in all--the happiest community on the face of the earth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yankee Doodle.]

CHAPTER VII.

DOLORES.--AN ITALIAN MAID LEARNS ENGLISH.--A ROMANTIC ADVENTURE.--A MASQUERADE, AND WHAT BEFELL THE SENATOR.--A CHARMING DOMINO.--A MOONLIGHT WALK, AND AN ASTOUNDING DISCOVERY.

The lodgings of b.u.t.tons and d.i.c.k were in a remarkably central part of Naples. The landlord was a true Neapolitan; a handsome, gay, witty, noisy, lively, rascally, covetous, ungrateful, deceitful, cunning, good-hearted old scoundrel, who took advantage of his guests in a thousand ways, and never spoke to them without trying to humbug them.

He was the father of a pretty daughter who had all her parent's nature somewhat toned down, and expanded in a feminine mould.

b.u.t.tons had a chivalrous soul, and so had d.i.c.k; the vivacity of this very friendly young lady was like an oasis in the wilderness of travel. In the evening they loved to sit in the suns.h.i.+ne of her smile.

She was singularly unconventional, this landlord's daughter, and made many informal calls on her two lodgers in their apartment.

An innocent, sprightly little maid--name Dolores--age seventeen-- complexion olive--hair jet black--eyes like stars, large, luminous, and at the same time twinkling--was anxious to learn English, especially to sing English songs; and so used to bring her guitar and sing for the Americans. Would they teach her their national song? "Oh yes happy beyond expression to do so."