ins and guitars and of Mrs. Lynch's
cornet would bring the passengers on board of, them to the steamer's
rail as we sped by them in the moonlight. Shortly after ten o'clock the
lights of Port Said came in sight and at half-past ten we were climbing
up the sides of the "Stettin," where we found a fine lot of officers and
a good dinner awaiting our arrival.

An hour later we were on our way across the Mediterranean. The voyage
was the roughest we had yet had, and as the majority of the party were
so seasick as to be confined to their staterooms, there was very little
pleasure to be found, the ship rolling about so that her screw was more
than half the time out of the water. The mountains of Crete and Candia,
with their snowy caps, were the only signs of land to be seen until we
arrived in sight of Brindisi, which we reached twelve hours later than
we should have done had it not been for the rough weather that we
encountered. Here we received the first mail that we had had since we
left home, and as there were letters from our daughters in the bag we
were more than happy.

At Brindisi we were obliged to remain over night, having missed the day
train for Naples, but the storm that that evening swept the coast
confined us to the hotel, where the big wood fires that blazed in the
grates, both in the office and in our sleeping apartments, made things
most comfortable. At nine o'clock the next morning we left for Naples,
where we arrived that evening, our journey taking us through the most
beautiful and picturesque portion of Southern Italy, a country rich in
vineyards, valleys, wooded mountains and beggars, being excelled in the
latter respect only by the lands of the Orient.

The most of our baggage had already gone on the steamer to Southampton,
and so when we got to the shores of the Bay of Naples we had but little
for the Custom House Inspectors to inspect. I had my bat bag with me,
however, and as I entered the station a funny-looking little old man in
gold lace insisted that the bag was above the regulation weight and that
I should register it and pay the extra fare. I kicked harder than I had
ever kicked to any umpire at home in my life, but to no avail, for I was
compelled to settle. As we came within sight of the Bay of Naples we
were all on the lookout for Mount Vesuvius, which Fogarty was the first
to sight, and to which he called our attention. Green and gray it loomed
up in the distance, its summit surrounded by