erosity of an American captain, who supplied the
red-shirts with ammunition, they would have exhausted their last
cartridge before the battle of Catania was half over.

Garibaldi was not the man to remain idle one moment, and after
establishing a provisional government at Palermo, and recruiting his
small forces, he set out towards Messina, and again attacked the Royal
army at Melazzo, on July 24. Here was one of the severest struggles of
the war. Melazzo was a hard-fought battle, but victory remained with
the patriots, and the result placed Messina in the hands of Garibaldi,
and with it the whole of the fair island of Sicily. It was at the battle
of Melazzo that, watching some English sailors, who had obtained leave
from their ships and volunteered their services in the cause of freedom,
and were very skilfully managing some pieces of artillery, the idea
occurred to Garibaldi and some of his staff, to invite the services of
England by the formation of a volunteer legion.

Shortly after the news reached London of the battle of Melazzo, agents
were at work enrolling volunteers to join the standard of Garibaldi--no
longer the revolutionary fillibuster, but the victorious general.

When at Messina, Garibaldi received a letter from Victor Emmanuel,
forbidding him to make any attempt to cross the Straits of Messina, and
carry the war on to the mainland; but he heeded it not, or, what is
perhaps most probable, he read between the lines, that having succeeded
so far, greatly to the surprise of all the wiseacres among European
diplomatists, he was to follow up his good fortune, and "go ahead." He
did so, and, in spite of the Neapolitan fleet being in the Straits to
prevent his passage, he crossed in the night and landed at Melita August
20th, and at once commenced the task of driving out the detested Bombina
from his kingdom.

In informing his Government of the fact, Admiral Mundy, who had brought
the British fleet to Messina, said, "If the royal troops are staunch, he
must be annihilated in a week." But he knew neither the rottenness of
the Neapolitan government nor the terror with which the red-shirted
Garibaldians were regarded by the royal troops; for with scarcely any
fighting the victorious Garibaldi advanced, driving the king's army
before him like sheep, and entered Naples, on the 7th of September.

His progress from Messina to Naples was unlike any military advance
recorded in history. The Bombini government was pa