CHAPTER IX. 
TAORMINA. 
On our arrival in Catania, we proceeded at once to de¬ 
mand satisfaction of the proprietor of the diligence for the 
misconduct of the conductor in suffering us to he stopped at 
Lentini and other postes on the road to Syracuse. We had 
drawn up a hill against him for all the extra charges for 
horses, postillions and hostlers, over and above what were spe¬ 
cified in the article of agreement. That article of agreement 
contained every item that we felt legally bound to pay ; and 
we had carefully preserved it as a warning to the proprietor 
that we were not the kind of people to be imposed upon. 
Our first measure, therefore, upon arriving at the door of 
the Corunna, was to send for the proprietor of the diligence. 
We had taken the names of all the conspirators who had 
fleeced us on the road—such names, at least, as they gave us ; 
and thus prepared, we formed ourselves into a sort of tribunal 
on the pavement, for the vindication of our rights and the in¬ 
fliction of a severe reprimand upon all who dared to outrage 
the majesty of the law. Doctor Mendoza was appointed prose¬ 
cuting attorney, as he was much the largest man in the party, 
and rather the most fluent in Italian. The proprietor, or pa¬ 
drone, as he was called, when he approached and saw us 
formed into a high Court of Inquiry, turned very pale, and 
bowed a great many times before our honors. All the idlers 
about the Corunna began to gather round, and every body being 
an idler, the audience was soon of very imposing dimensions. 
Doctor Mendoza opened the case—rather violently as I thought 
—by thrusting the contract in the face of the trembling pa¬ 
drone, and calling him a sporka, a robber, a miserable pol¬ 
troon ! and a great many other names of the kind ; which 
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