wound he
received at Calatafimi. Around were soldiers who looked like mere
boys. They gazed with delight on the English uniforms. Garibaldi
requested his guests to be seated and to partake of some
freshly-gathered strawberries. He spoke of his affection and respect
for England, and said it was his hope soon to make the acquaintance of
the British admiral. He mentioned how he had seen and admired from the
heights the beautiful effect of the salutes fired in honour of the
Queen's birthday, two days before. He then retired into his tent, made
of an old blanket stretched over pikes; a child, under the name of a
sentry, paced before it to keep off the crowd.

To complete the deception of the enemy the Garibaldian artillery,
under Colonel Orsini, was ordered to make a retrograde march on
Corleone previous to joining the main force at Misilmeri. Orsini
narrowly escaped getting caught while executing this movement, and for
the sake of celerity was obliged to throw his five cannon (including
one taken at Calatafimi) down deep water courses. He returned to pull
them out again when the immediate danger was past. General Colonna,
who followed him closely, was convinced that the whole of the
Garibaldians were in disorderly retreat as witnessed by the mules and
waggons purposely abandoned by Orsini along the route. For four days
Colonna believed that he had Garibaldi flying before him, and sent
intelligence to that effect to Naples, whence it was published through
the world. On the fifth day he was immeasurably surprised by hearing
that Garibaldi had entered Palermo!

It was at early dawn on Whitsunday, the 27th of May, that Garibaldi
reached the threshold of the capital, and after overcoming the guard
at Ponte dell' Ammiraglio, pushed on to Porta Termini, the strategic
key to the city. The royalists, though taken by surprise in the first
instance, had time to dispose a strong force behind walls and
barricades before Garibaldi could reach the gate, and it required two
hours of severe fighting to take the position. Many Red-shirts were
killed, and Benedetto Cairoli received the severe wound from which he
never wholly recovered. Success, however, was complete, and the
Palermitans got up to find, to their frantic joy, the Liberator within
their gates. According to the old usage their first impulse was to run
to the belfries in order to sound the tocsin, but they found that the
royalists had removed the clappers of the bells. Nothing d