In several engagements about Naples, enormous sums of money were taken.
Then Boyton proceeded to Messina. Before leaving Naples, he had made up
his mind to attempt the dreaded straits of that name, and dare the
dangers of the noted whirlpools of Scylla and Charybdis. Every
one cheerfully assured him that the attempt would result in death, for
beside the dangers of the whirlpools, the straits were infested with
sharks.
Arriving at Messina, he determined to test the report of sharks. At
early morning he went to the market place and procured a large piece
of meat which he took out near the fort, where the sharks were said to
be numerous. He threw a piece of the meat into the water and it
slowly sank. Paul, as he saw it going down, believed that the stories of
the sharks were exaggerated; but suddenly it was drawn out of sight.
Another piece was thrown in and had scarcely touched the surface when
there was a rush and a swirl and the meat was snapped up in a twinkling.
An old hat was thrown in next and it was torn to shreds in a second.
This undeniable proof that sharks were plentiful in the straits, made
Paul feel very blue, as he did not fancy giving up an undertaking after
once setting his mind to it.
It was noised about that Boyton would attempt to swim the straits. The
people of the city and surrounding country grew excited, and all manner
of bets were made on the result. One night as Boyton sat gloomily at a
small table in the corner of a café, he overheard a man wager his oxen
that the American would not attempt the passage and that he could not
cross if he did. Though much disheartened, when Paul heard this, as well
as many more doubts expressed as to his ability to accomplish the feat,
he determined to attempt it at all hazards. An old legend is extant
among the fishermen and peasants of the locality that the only human
being who ever crossed the straits without the aid of a boat, was
St. Francisco, who, being pursued by his enemies, spread his cloak on
the water and stepping on it was wafted across without harm and escaped.
So the proposed attempt of Boyton was looked upon as certain death.
After deciding to try the passage, Paul engaged a felucca, owned by the
most expert spearsman in those waters, to accompany him, and another
for the invited guests and newspaper men. These boats were ready on the
morning of March 16th, 1877, and sailed from Messina for the coast of
Calabria, from which point the start was to be made. They arrived there
at seven o'clock the same morning. The party consisted of several
prominent men of Messina, among them the editor of the Gazette.
Everybody was armed for sharks, the editor being especially well
equipped for slaughtering these wolves of the deep and very bold in his
assertions of how he would protect Boyton from their attacks.
At a small, scattered village on the Calabrian side, the felucca
containing Paul and his guests landed. The dress and those on board were
put ashore and preparations were at once made for the start. A sirocco
was blowing at the time, setting a heavy tide in the direction of
the whirlpool of Scylla, or the Faro, as they call it there. The sea
grew rougher while the little party stood on the beach and as Boyton
was dressing the most anxious one in the group was the enthusiastic
editor. His nerve was slowly oozing out at his finger ends.
The inhabitants of the village began crowding down to the shore and when
they learned what was going on, an old white-haired man approached the
voyager, and in the most earnest manner, addressed him in the Calabrian
dialect: "Don't go, don't go," he cried. "I had a boy such as you, who
was lost out there and the devils of the straits will get you."
The appeal of the old man was interpreted to Paul and was the only
occurrence of the day that had a tendency to upset his nerves.
The expert spearsman had arranged a place on his boat where he could
stand and harpoon any sharks that might attack the adventurer, while
the guests on the other craft thought they were pretty well fixed to
keep the monsters off. Everything being ready, the felucca backed in
from her cable to get the guests aboard. All were safely on except the
bold editor. He was pale and his knees were knocking together. His
courage was gone and he persisted in remaining on shore, until one of
the sailors lifted him bodily aboard.
The sea was very rough when Boyton stepped into it. He struck away as
fast as he could and both feluccas kept a sharp lookout. He reached mid-
channel without encountering any danger, and stopped to look about and
take his bearings. He perceived that he was nearing Charybdis. On
looking around, just as the foremost boat rose on a huge wave, he saw
what he thought to be a shark directly under it. He pulled his knife and
prepared for an attack. He was rather nervous, and the feluccas seemed
an awful distance away. He called out that a shark was in sight.
Immediately, as Paul was afterward informed, the brave editor dropped on
his knees and began to pray that they might not all be swallowed up.
The shark was darting from side to side of the boat, but spying Boyton's
black figure, it turned on its side and swam for him. Paul braced for
the attack, and when the monster was close enough he ripped it under the
mouth, and in going down it struck him a severe blow in the side with
its tail, then disappeared, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. Boyton
made away as fast as he could, glad to escape the monster so easily.
He was not attacked again. The tide was carrying him right to the place
where he had first discovered the presence of sharks; but a number of
boats came off from Messina, their occupants yelling and splashing the
water, which served to frighten the brutes away.
On the outer edge of the whirlpool of Charybdis, which is a great eddy
caused by a jutting point of land on which a fort is built, and on the
ebb tide strong enough to swamp a boat, Paul worked for one hour without
advancing a single yard; the people all the while expecting to see him
swallowed up. He held out, however, and at last landed safely at
Messina. The American ships laying there dipped their flags in salute,
and the entire population was filled with astonishment at the successful
termination of the feat. The valiant editor of the Gazette, after
feeling himself safely ashore, became quite a lion, graphically
picturing the adventures of the day to admiring crowds. From the wharf
to the city hall, where a reception had been arranged, the streets on
both sides were lined with troops to protect Paul from the crowds. On
arriving at the hall, he fainted and an examination showed that three of
his ribs had been broken by the shark's tail and that the steel band of
his dress was bent close to his body by the great force of the blow. He
was conveyed to his hotel where he remained for two weeks until he was
quite strong again. For some time after the attack by the shark, Boyton
took life easy. He visited Mt. Etna, Catalana, Syracuse and other places
of interest in Sicily. At Syracuse, he spent a lazy week. It is one of
the dirtiest town in the world; but Paul enjoyed everything he saw.
When on the street, he was generally followed by a crowd of boys who
were trying to sell all sorts of little trinkets. One of them
especially, was very persistent in trying to dispose of an ancient
coin of the Ceasars, which he guaranteed to be very valuable and for
which he would take the paltry sum of ten lire. Boyton finally told
him that he knew all about the coin, and would give two lire to find the
man who made it. The young villain mysteriously whispered the
information, which later on was found to be correct. Some of the boys
would get him ten fine oranges for one cent on being given an extra
penny for going on the errand.
It was a favorite amusement for Paul and his agent to go out on the road
in hope of encountering brigands, who were reported numerous and bold.
They would enter some low cabriolet that was suspected of harboring
these knights of the mountains. With carbines concealed under their
coats, they would make an ostentatious display of rolls of Italian paper
money, expecting that some of the robbers would follow them out on the
road and stir up a little excitement. The brigands were either too busy
at something else, or they regarded the American as rather too dangerous
a customer to attack for they never materialized. Before leaving the old
town, the authorities induced him to give an exhibition, which was
witnessed by the entire population, brigands included. Just before the
entertainment, Boyton hung his rubber-suit on a stone wall in the sun,
to dry. When the crowd had gathered, he hurried on with the dress; but
flung it off with much greater rapidity, when he found it was full of
the little green lizards which abound on the island.
When the P. & O. steamer arrived, Paul and his agent embarked for Malta,
where they had their first clash with the authorities. There is a
peculiar law in that sleepy old town which prohibits the posting of any
bills larger than a small sheet, about the size of note paper. The
night after their arrival, they plastered the town with one sheet
posters, which looked to the natives bigger than one hundred sheet
stands would in this country. Next morning the inhabitants stood aghast
at the audacity of the Americans in doing such an unheard of thing. They
were summoned before the Governor and the enormity of their offense
solemnly revealed to them; but owing to the plea of ignorance of the
law, they were discharged, and ordered to take down the bills as
quickly as possible. In obedience to the mandate of the Governor,
they employed a sleepy-eyed native to do the work, with instructions
to take his time. It required two days to undo the work of one night,
but the authorities were satisfied and the exhibition was the best
advertised of any that had been in Malta for years.
Paul was a great favorite with the boatmen and fishermen of Malta, and
spent all of his leisure time with these acquaintances, going fishing
with them almost daily. The boatmen are peculiar and their boats are
queer affairs, every one having a large eye painted on each side of
the bow. Paul asked a fisherman why eyes were painted on the boats, and
he gravely replied:
"How could the poor things see without eyes?"
Not one of these men could be induced to go out in a boat that had no
eyes painted on her.
From Malta, Paul went to Tunis, and on landing there, was genuinely
surprised. The passengers and their baggage were loaded into boats
for transfer to shore, nearing which, they were met by crowds of bare
legged natives who waded out as far as they could and when a boat was
near enough, they grabbed the baggage and trotted off with it,
regardless of the remonstrances of the owners. At the custom house, the
luggage was found; each native sitting stoically on whatever he had
chanced to capture, with an air of absolute proprietorship. After it was
passed by the custom authorities, it was carried to the hotel by the
howling mob, where, with many kicks and cuffs administered by the
landlord, it was reclaimed. Paul gave an exhibition at this place on
which the awe stricken Moors gazed in wonder. He then returned to Italy
in which country he gave exhibitions with extraordinary success. While
working north, he received an invitation to visit Lake Trasmene,
celebrated in Roman history. All the villages about the lake joined in
a demonstration that was to take place at Pastgnano. Boyton's program
was to cross from the old town of Castiglioni de Lago to the former
place. The mountaineers living near the lake came out in queer boats
loaded to the water's edge, in which they followed him across. He
observed the wind rising and knowing that the heavily laden boats would
not live in any kind of rough weather, he warned them and begged
them to go ashore; but very few heeded him. Scarcely had he landed when
an Italian officer rushed in to where he was undressing, excitedly
shouting:
"Oh, go back. Go back. They are drowning out there."
As quickly as possible, Paul returned to the lake and saw that one of
the boats had swamped. The three men who occupied it were drowned and
could not be found. The accident put a damper on the festivities of the
day. The bands of music were hushed and much sorrow expressed for the
unfortunates. The Syndaco, however, invited Boyton to a dinner, and they
were enjoying themselves very well, considering the circumstances,
when a delegation of the people called and made the statement that a
majority of the crowd was dissatisfied. Many were from a great
distance, and demanded to see L'uomo Pesce, a name they had given to
Boyton, meaning "Man Fish." Some of the leading men of the town advised
Paul that it would be better for him to give some kind of an
entertainment, otherwise there might be a riot. So much against his
will, he went out and gave an exhibition, before the bodies of the poor
fellows were recovered. The mountaineers were satisfied, however, and
went to their homes with all sorts of ideas of the "Man Fish." That
night after sundown, the bodies were found and the weird cries of the
relatives rang dismally through the streets until morning.
Next day Paul and his agent remained over to pay their last respects and
attend the funeral. They witnessed the peculiar ceremonies of the
Misericordia, a society that has for its object the burial of the dead.
They wear long, white robes, covering their entire person, with holes
cut for the eyes, nose and mouth. They formed a grim looking procession,
and as they turned those expressionless faces toward one, they sent a
cold shiver down the spine. Regardless of this uncanny feeling, Boyton
and his friend followed the procession into the church and by so doing,
gained the good will of the villagers, who assured them that they were
in no way to blame for the accident. The entire receipts of the
entertainment, with a liberal addition, were presented to the families
of the drowned men.