ng the
trees under the high mouldering battlements.--A little lower down, the
band played. Men and ladies bowed and pranced, the costumes posed,
church bells tinkled, processions processed, the sun set behind thick
clouds capping the hills; I pondered on you and enjoyed it all.

"Decidedly I prefer being master to being man: boats at all hours,
stewards flying for marmalade, captain inquiring when ship is to sail,
clerks to copy my writing, the boat to steer when we go out--I have
run her nose on several times; decidedly, I begin to feel quite a
little king. Confound the cable, though! I shall never be able to
repair it.

"_Bona, October 14._

"We left Cagliari at 4.30 on the 9th, and soon got to Spartivento. I
repeated some of my experiments, but found Thomson, who was to have
been my grand stand-by, would not work on that day in the wretched
little hut. Even if the windows and door had been put in, the wind,
which was very high, made the lamp flicker about and blew it out; so I
sent on board and got old sails, and fairly wrapped the hut up in
them; and then we were as snug as could be, and I left the hut in
glorious condition, with a nice little stove in it. The tent which
should have been forthcoming from the cure's for the guards had gone
to Cagliari; but I found another, [a] green, Turkish tent, in the
_Elba_, and soon had him up. The square tent left on the last occasion
was standing all right and tight in spite of wind and rain. We landed
provisions, two beds, plates, knives, forks, candles, cooking
utensils, and were ready for a start at 6 P.M.; but the wind meanwhile
had come on to blow at such a rate that I thought better of it, and
we stopped. T---- and S---- slept ashore, however, to see how they
liked it; at least they tried to sleep, for S----, the ancient
sergeant-major, had a toothache, and T---- thought the tent was coming
down every minute. Next morning they could only complain of sand and a
leaky coffee-pot, so I leave them with a good conscience. The little
encampment looked quite picturesque: the green round tent, the square
white tent, and the hut all wrapped up in sails, on a sandhill,
looking on the sea and masking those confounded marshes at the back.
One would have thought the Cagliaritans were in a conspiracy to
frighten the two poor fellows, who (I believe) will be safe enough if
they do not go into the marshes a