oned to take Ulysses
ashore with his little suitcase. He was accompanied by a red-faced, fat
gentleman who appeared to have great authority over the skipper.

"I suppose you are already informed of what is happening," he said to
Ferragut while the two oarsmen made the skiff glide over the waves.
"Those bandits!... Those mandolin-players!..."

Ulysses, without knowing why, made an affirmative gesture. This
indignant burgher was a German, one of those that were useful to the
doctor.... It was enough just to listen to him.

A half hour later Ferragut leaped on the dock without any one's
opposing his disembarking, as though the protection of his obese
companion had made all the guards drowsy. The good gentleman showed,
notwithstanding, a fervent desire to separate himself from his
charge--to hurry away, attending to his own affairs.

He smiled upon learning that Ulysses wished to go immediately to
Naples. "You do well.... The train leaves in two hours." And putting
him in a vacant hack, he disappeared with precipitation.

Finding himself alone, the captain almost believed that he had dreamed
of those two preceding days.

He was again seeing Palermo after an absence of long years: and he
experienced the joy of an exiled Sicilian on meeting the various carts
of the countryside, drawn by broken-down horses with plumes, whose
badly-painted wagon bodies represented scenes from "Jerusalem
Delivered." He recalled the names of the principal roads,--the roads of
the old Spanish viceroys. In one square he saw the statue of four kings
of Spain.... But all these souvenirs only inspired in him a fleeting
interest. What he particularly noticed was the extraordinary movement
in the streets, the people grouping themselves together in order to
listen to the reading of the daily papers. Many windows displayed the
national flag, interlaced with those of France, England, and Belgium.

Upon arriving at the station he learned the truth,--was informed of the
event to which the merchant had alluded while they were in the skiff.
It was war!... Italy had broken her relations the day before with the
Central Powers.

Ulysses felt very uneasy on remembering what he had done out on the
Mediterranean. He feared that the popular groups, thronging past him
and giving cheers behind their flags, were going to guess his exploit
and fall upon him. It was necessary to get away from this patriotic
enthusiasm, and he breathed more freely when he found hi