nd asses hold discourse
together, as if they were members of an academy. All this is merely the
effect of imagination, Signore; and he who has the most is the aptest at
inventing circumstances, which, though not strictly true, are vastly
agreeable."

"As for Homer and Ariosto, Signor Vice-governatore, I doubt if either
ever saw a vessel with a boot on, or if either ever knew as much about
craft in general as we who live here in Porto Ferrajo. Harkee, friend
Filippo, just ask this Americano if, in his country, he ever saw vessels
wear boots. Put the question plainly, and without any of your
accursed poetry."

Filippo did as desired, leaving Ithuel to put his own construction on
the object of the inquiry; all that had just passed being sealed to him,
in consequence of its having been uttered in good Tuscan.

"Boots!" repeated the native of the Granite state, looking round him
drolly; "perhaps not exactly the foot-part, and the soles, for they
ought, in reason, to be under water; but every vessel that isn't
coppered shows her boot-_top_--of _them_, I'll swear I've seen ten
thousand, more or less."

This answer mystified the vice-governatore, and completely puzzled Vito
Viti. The grave mariners at the other table, too, thought it odd, for in
no other tongue is the language of the sea as poetical, or figurative,
as in the English; and the term of _boot-top,_ as applied to a vessel,
was Greek to them, as well as to the other listeners. They conversed
among themselves on the subject, while their two superiors were holding
a secret conference on the other side of the room, giving the American
time to rally his recollection, and remember the precise circumstances
in which not only he himself, but all his shipmates, were placed. No one
could be more wily and ingenious than this man, when on his guard,
though the inextinguishable hatred with which he regarded England and
Englishmen had come so near causing him to betray a secret which it was
extremely important, at that moment, to conceal. At length a general
silence prevailed, the different groups of speakers ceasing to converse,
and all looking towards the vice-governatore, as if in expectation that
he was about to suggest something that might give a turn to the
discourse. Nor was this a mistake, for, after inquiring of Benedetta if
she had a private room, he invited Ithuel and the interpreter to follow
him into it, leading the way, attended by the podesta. As soon as these