THE CAMP AT SPARTIVENTO ciii 



tinkled } processions processed, the sun set behind thick clouds 

 capping the hills ; I pondered on you and enjoyed it all. 



' Decidedly I prefer being master to being man : boats at all 

 hours, stewards flying for marmalade, captain enquiring when 

 ship is to sail, clerks to copy my writing, the boat to steer when 

 we go out I have run her nose on several times ; decidedly, I 

 begin to feel quite a little king. Confound the cable, though ! 

 I shall never be able to repair it. 



' Bona : October 14. 



c We left Cagliari at 4.30 on the 9th and soon got to Sparti- 

 vento. I repeated some of my experiments, but found Thomson, 

 who was to have been my grand stand-by, would not work on 

 that day in the wretched little hut. Even if the windows and 

 door had been put in, the wind which was very high made the 

 lamp flicker about and blew it out ; so I sent on board and got old 

 sails, and fairly wrapped the hut up in them ; and then we were 

 as snug as could be, and I left the hut in glorious condition 

 with a nice little stove in it. The tent which should have been 

 forthcoming from the cure's for the guards, had gone to Cagliari ; 

 but I found another, [a] green, Turkish tent, in the Mba and 

 soon had him up. The square tent left on the last occasion was 

 standing all right and tight in spite of wind and rain. We 

 landed provisions, two beds, plates, knives, forks, candles, cook- 

 ing utensils, and were ready for a start at 6 P.M. ; but the wind 

 meanwhile had come on to blow at such a rate that I thought 



better of it, and we stopped. T - and S slept ashore 



however, to see how they liked it ; at least they tried to sleep, 



for S the ancient sergeant-major had a toothache, and 



T thought the tent was coming down every minute. Next 



morning they could only complain of sand and a leaky coffee- 

 pot, so I leave them with a good conscience. The little en- 

 campment looked quite picturesque : the green round tent, the 

 square white tent and the hut all wrapped up in saiL, on a 

 sand hill, looking on the sea and masking those confounded 

 marshes at the back. One would have thought the Cagliaritans 

 were in a conspiracy to frighten the two poor fellows, who (I 

 believe) will be safe enough if they do not go into the marshes 



