prevalent excitement. These
were the men who originated those daily rumors which threw both
government and people into a fever of agitation; who taught new hopes
and new desires to the most degraded population of Christendom, and
inspired even the lazaroni with wild ideas of human rights--of
liberty, fraternity, and equality. These agents had a far-reaching
purpose, and to accomplish this they worked steadily, in all parts
and among all classes, until at last the whole state was ripe for
some vast revolution. Such was the condition of the people among whom
Obed and his friends pursued their pleasures.

The party with which Obed had connected himself was a varied one.
There were two officers from those "Yankee frigates" which he had
hurled in the teeth of the police agent at the Hotel de l'Europe; two
young fellows fresh from Harvard, and on their way to Heidelberg, who
had come direct from New York to Naples, and were in no hurry to
leave; a Southerner, fresh from a South Carolina plantation, making
his first tour in Europe; a Cincinnati lawyer; and a Boston clergyman
traveling for his health, to recruit which he had been sent away by
his loving congregation. With all these Obed at once fraternized, and
soon became the acknowledged leader, though, as he could not speak
Italian, he was compelled to delegate all quarrels with the natives
to the two Heidelbergians, who had studied Italian on their way out,
and had aired it very extensively since their arrival.

Having exhausted the land excursions, the party obtained a yacht, in
which they intended to make the circuit of the bay. On their first
voyage they went around its whole extent, and then, rounding the
island of Capri, they sailed along the coast to the southeast without
any very definite purpose.

The party presented a singular appearance. All were dressed in the
most careless manner, consulting convenience without any regard to
fashion. The Heidelbergians had ade their appearance in red flannel
shirts and broad-brimmed felt hats, which excited such admiration
that the others at once determined to equal them. Obed, the officers,
and the South Carolinian went off, and soon returned with red flannel
shirts and wide-awake hats of their own, for which they soon
exchanged their more correct costume. The lawyer and the clergyman
compromised the matter by donning reefing jackets; and thus the whole
party finally set out, and in this attire they made their cruise,
with