"Oh mercy of God! You were not sick?"

"I, signora, am never sea-sick. I am of the navy."

At which they all cry oh, and ah, and declare they are glad of it,
though why they should have been I don't know to this day.

"I have often wished," added the young man meditatively, and in a
serious tone, as if he had indeed given the subject much thought,
"that it might please God to let me be sea-sick once, if only that I
might know how it feels. But no!" He turned the conversation, as
if his disappointment were too sore to dwell upon; and hearing our
English, he made out to let us know that he had been at New York, and
could spik our language, which he proceeded to do, to the great pride
of his countrymen, and our own astonishment at the remarkable forms of
English speech to which he gave utterance.


V.

We set out from Porto Longone that night at eight o'clock, and next
evening, driving through much-abated storm southward into calm waters
and clear skies, reached Naples. At noon, Monte Circeo where Circe
led her disreputable life, was a majestic rock against blue heaven
and broken clouds; after nightfall, and under the risen moon, Vesuvius
crept softly up from the sea, and stood a graceful steep, with wreaths
of lightest cloud upon its crest, and the city lamps circling far
round its bay.