a Capitale_, obeyed the man who had
freed them. And Rattazzi knew of all this, and did nothing.

On the 1st of August, Garibaldi took command of 3000 volunteers in the
woods of Ficuzza. Then, indeed, the Government wasted much paper on
proclamations, and closed the door of the stable when the horse was
gone. General Cugia was sent to Palermo to repress the movement.
Nevertheless Garibaldi, with his constantly increasing band, made a
triumphant progress across the island, and a more than royal entry
into Catania. At Mezzojuso he was present at a _Te Deum_ chanted in
his honour. On the 22nd, when the royal troops were, it seems, really
ordered to march on Catania, Garibaldi took possession of a couple of
merchant vessels that had just reached the port, and sailed away by
night for the Calabrian coast with about 1000 of his men.

By this time the Italian Government, whether by spontaneous conviction
or by pressure from without, had resolved that the band should never
get as far as the Papal frontier. If Garibaldi knew or realised their
resolution, it is a mystery why he did not attempt to effect a landing
nearer that frontier, if not actually within it. The deserted shore of
the Pontine marshes would, one would think, have offered attractions
to men who were as little afraid of fever as of bullets. A sort of
superstition may have ruled the choice of the path, which was that
which led to victory in 1860. It was not practicable, however, to
follow it exactly. The tactics were different. Then the desire was to
meet the enemy anywhere and everywhere; now the pursuer had to be
eluded, because Garibaldi was determined not to fight him. Thus,
instead of marching straight on Reggio, the volunteers sought
concealment in the great mountain mass which forms the southernmost
bulwark of the Apennines. The dense and trackless forests could have
given cover for a long while to a native brigand troop, with intimate
knowledge of the country and ways and means of obtaining
provisions--not to a band like this of Garibaldi. They wandered about
for three days, suffering from almost total want of food, and from the
great fatigue of climbing the dried-up watercourses which serve as
paths. On the 28th of August they reached the heights of Aspromonte--a
strong position, from which only a large force could have dislodged
them had they defended it.

General La Marmora, then Prefect of Naples, and commander-in-chief of
the army in the south, reinf