CHAPTER XII 



BUENOS AIRES 



"Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples lie, 

 Open unto the fields, and to the sky, 

 All bright and glittering in the smokeless air." Wordsworth. 



SIGNOR NEGRI, who was born in Elba, stood at 

 the entrance of the grounds of the Observatory, 

 looking up at the sky, a vault of brilliant blue flecked 

 here and there with white clouds. "Pah!' he ex- 

 claimed, 'the sight makes me sick. Look, Monsieur 

 le Docteur, at that sky blue and white the national 

 colors of Argentina blue and white eternally that 

 blue and white sky! I was born where the fogs often 

 came up from the sea. I adore fog. I am happiest 

 when it drizzles. But look at that audaciously blue 

 and white sky ! The sight fills me with bitterness. It 

 will not rain to-day; it will not rain to-morrow. We 

 are in for a long period of dry weather. I shall have to 

 bury myself indoors to escape the depressing effects 

 of that blue sky!" "But," I protested, "the sky 

 appears beautiful to me. I do not wish it to rain to- 

 day; I am going to Buenos Aires to see the Cattle 

 Show, and the Botanical and Zoological Gardens. ' 

 'All! Monsieur le Docteur, there is no accounting for 

 tastes. You think that shamelessly blue sky beautiful? 

 I do not!' We got into the fiacre, for which we had 

 telephoned and which was awaiting us. The cochero 



