74 
A GIRA THROUGH SICILY. 
the padrone received with the most unbounded resignation. 
Indeed, had he been used to such charges all his life he could 
not have manifested a more forgiving spirit. His only an¬ 
swer was to demand meekly the cause of all this violence. 
Had he pulled Doctor Mendoza by the nose, die could not have 
offered him a greater insult than this question. For two 
minutes that gentleman was perfectly breathless with rage; 
he stormed, he stamped upon the pavement; he tore his hair; 
he spluttered and spat all about; and then, after this explo¬ 
sion, he shrieked in English, in Portuguese, in French, and in 
Italian; during which time the padrone took several pinches 
of snuff, and awaited the conclusion. At the conclusion he 
demanded again the cause of this extreme violence. 
“ Sact-r-r-r ! Diablo /” screamed the Portuguese, rushing 
at him, with his fingers bent as if to claw the eyes out of 
him— ‘ ‘ Calaboca ! Per-r-r Baccho ! By dam ! you rob ! 
you dam rascal ! Perclie questa ? (shaking the paper in his 
face) Due baiocco ! — due , tre, quatro , cinqua carlin ! Sem¬ 
pra ! Sempra ! Per-r-r Deo! baiocci , car Uni, scudi! 
Sacr-r-r /” 
The counsel for the accused, which consisted of the con¬ 
ductor, the driver, the postillion, and several of the ragged 
facchini , belonging to the hotel, broke in and protested that it 
was the custom of the country, that any other padrone would 
have charged double the price ; they all talked at once, and 
their appeals in behalf of the padrone were so eloquent and 
moving that he evidently began to consider himself a much 
injured man, and this sense of outraged honesty so inspired 
him with courage, that he began to protest that he would 
have justice for such unmerited accusations; he couldn’t 
stand it ; he’d go to the police office. 
The upshot of the whole business was, that we had to pay 
the full amount on the agreement, and suffer an additional 
loss of several carlins in fees to the counsel of the accused, 
who never ceased to persecute us till we showed symptoms 
of a disposition to pay the required amount. The ground 
upon which they based their claim was that they had helped 
us out of the difficulty ! Such a course of conduct might 
