r, he got settled with
when once we were snugly into harbour, and was a long fortnight in
hospital repairing damages. That's where an Englishman scores. Whip
away the _coltello_ from the back of his belt, get him to put up
his hands, steer clear of his feet, and you have a southerner on toast.

After living like a brute--and acting, of course, so as not to spoil
the completeness of the part--for all that time, I naturally set to
doing what the sailor man always does under the circumstances. I got
ashore, and started washing the taste out of my mouth. Every man does
this according to his own lights, and perhaps mine were a trifle out of
the general groove. Lodging I was not fastidious about, neither did I
long for drink, nor clothes, nor women. So I put up at a bit of an
upstairs _albergo_ in the Via S. Siro, where one who knows the
ropes can get a decent room for a _lira_, and spent my time and
money in having daily a real good dinner and hearing some tip-top
music. And, by Jove, I did enjoy myself. It seemed almost worth going
through the bad spell, just for the sake of the contrast.

But, more's the pity, my pay had been small, and it fractionized
rapidly. The spree could only be a short one.

However, I wasn't going to run matters too fine this time and get
cornered again, as had been my fate at Oporto, so I loafed amongst the
shipping offices during my mornings, and had the good luck to stumble
into a berth on one of the American liners. It was only as third mate,
to be sure; but then she was a big ship, and I, professionally
speaking, was a small man. I hadn't exactly been schooled for the sea,
you know, so you can guess I was feeling pretty comfortable over it.

It's just spells like those which prove to a man how thoroughly life is
worth living.

The end of my tether was not long in coming. A man, when his shore
riotings are thoroughly systematic, as mine were, can calculate his
days of revelry to a nicety. I had arrived at my last two twenty-lire
notes. I was going to finish up with a ten-lire dinner, then spend four
lire for entrance and a seat at the Carlo Felice to hear "Cavalleria
Rusticana," leaving part of six lire for bed, morning coffee, and other
sundries, besides twenty odd to carry on the war with before I got my
advance on the steamer. Being stone-broke when you go on board doesn't
matter if you ship forward; but aft, to start with bare pockets may get
you a bad name.

I had maundered out to t