Colonel Peard, 'Garibaldi's Englishman,' went in advance of the army
to Eboli, where he was mistaken, as commonly happened, for his chief.
He was past middle age; very tall, with a magnificent beard and a
stern, dictatorial air, which answered admirably to the popular idea
of what the conqueror of Sicily ought to be like, although there was
no resemblance to the real person. It happened that Eboli was a
royalist town and beyond the pale of declared revolution--a placid and
antiquated little city with a forgotten air, where life had been
probably too easy for its inhabitants to wish for a change. But the
supposed arrival of the Terrible Man turned everything upside-down.
Peard, with Commander Forbes, who was following the campaign as a
non-combatant, rode up to the house of the old Syndic, who instantly
became their devoted servant. Like wildfire spread the news--the whole
population besieged the house, brass bands resounded, chinese lanterns
were hung out; the Church, led by the bishop, hurried to the spot, the
Law, headed by a judge, closely following, while the wives of the
local officials appeared in perfectly new bonnets. They all craved an
audience, and the same answer was given to all: that General
Garibaldi was much fatigued and was asleep--so he was, but ninety
miles away. He would be pleased to receive the deputations if they
would return punctually at half-past three a.m. In the meantime, Peard
was in an inner room, engaged in cannonading Naples with telegrams. He
had sent for the telegraph master, who came trembling like an aspen,
and from whom it was elicited that he had already telegraphed to the
Home Office at Naples, and to the general commanding at Salerno, that
Garibaldi was in the town. Peard remarked casually that he supposed he
knew his life was in jeopardy, and then handed him the following
message: 'Eboli, 11.30 p.m.--Garibaldi has arrived with 5000 of his
own men, and 5000 Calabrese are momentarily expected. Disembarkations
are expected in the bay of Naples and the gulf of Salerno to-night. I