The English girl broke out into pretty speeches of gladness when she
caught sight of her little ship. "Dance, graceful naiad," ejaculated
Julia, when she beheld it upon the blue waters of the Mediterranean,
"and spread your wings to bear away my friends to a place of safety.
Who says I may not love thee as a friend, when I owe to thee so many
glorious and free days? I love thee when the waters are like a mirror
and reflect thy beauty upon their glassy bosom, and thou rockest lazily
to the sigh of the gentle evening breeze which scarcely swells thy
sails. I love thee still more when thou plungest, like a steed of
Neptune, through the billows' snorting foam, driven by the storm, making
thy way through the waves, and fearing no terror of the tempest. Now
stretch thy wings for thy mistress, and bear her friends safe from this
wicked shore!"
Julia's companions were in the mood to echo this spirit of joy and
exultation, and eagerly gazed at the little vessel.
Not daring, however, to excite suspicion by conducting the whole of her
party at once into Porto d'Anzo, Julia decided upon leaving Silvia and
her daughter under the protection of Orazio, who would have been cut in
pieces before he would have allowed them to be injured or insulted.
They were to wait in a wood a short distance from the port, while Julia,
taking with her Manlio, who acted the part of coachman, and Aurelia, as
her lady's maid, passed to the ship to make preparations to fetch the
others. Capo d'Anzo forms the southern, and Civita Vecchia the northern
limits of the dangerous and inhospitable Roman shore. The navigator
steers his vessel warily when he puts out to sea in winter on this
stormy coast, especially in a south-west wind, which has wrecked many a
gallant ship there. The mouth of the Tiber, is only navigable by vessels
that do not draw more than four or five feet of water, and this only
during spring. On the left bank of the Tiber near Mount Circeli, dwelt
of old the war-like Volsci, who gave the Romans no little trouble before
those universal conquerors succeeded in subjugating them. The ruins of
their ancient capital, Ardea, bear witness to its ancient prosperity.
The promontory, Capo d'Anzo, both forms and gives its name to the port
in which was stationed our heroine's yacht, awaiting her orders. The
arrival of Julia, if not a delight and fete day for the priests, who
hate the English, because they are both "heretics" and "liberals," was
certainly one for the crew of the _Seagull_, to whom she was always
affable and kind. The sailor, exposed to noble risks nearly all his
life, is well worthy of woman's esteem, and nowhere will she find a
truer devotion to her sex than among the rough but loyal and generous
tars.
Going on board, the pretty English lady, after returning the
affectionate and respectful greeting of her countrymen and servants,
descended to the cabin and consulted with her captain, an old sea-dog
(Thompson by name), as to the best means of embarking the fugitives.
"Aye, aye, Miss," said he, glad to escape his enforced idleness, as soon
as he saw how the land lay; "leave the poor creatures to me; I'll find a
way of shipping them safe out of this hole!"
And in less than an hour the captain, true to his word, weighed anchor,
and sailed triumphantly out to sea with our exiles on board, who, though
shedding a few natural tears as the coast faded rapidly from their view,
were inexpressibly thankful to feel that they were at last out of the
clutches of their revengeful persecutors.