I deemed myself the luckiest member of our Calabrian army. Hundreds had come only to find a tomb on the plains of Maida, before the ramparts of Crotona, or in the trenches of Scylla. A few had gained a step of promotion and a little honour; the general a great deal—the title of count, and from the city of London a substantial dinner at the Mansion-house, with the present of a splendid sword: but I had gained Bianca d’Alfieri, who had last season turned half the heads in Palermo. "Bravo Claude!" thought I; "it is quite a regimental triumph, and deserves to be borne on our colours. At Syracuse, the mess will drink deep when they hear of it!" The darkening of the sky, across the azure surface of which dense columns of cloud were moving in rapid succession, and the exhalation of a chilly vapour and malaria from the stagnant pools of a dismal swamp in which we suddenly became entangled, all foreboded a coming storm. The sea, when seen at intervals between the opening hills, was black as ink, and fleckered with masses of foam. Vessels were making all snug aloft and getting close under the lee of the shore to avoid the threatened tempest, which was soon to sweep over the bosom of the trackless ocean. The rumbling of the carriage, and the hoofs of our galloping escort sounded deep and hollow between the echoing hills. "Signor," said their decurione or chasseur, riding up to the window which I had let down for the admission of air, "in three minutes we shall have a tremendous storm: perhaps la capitanessa would wish to seek a place of safety." "But where?" "Madonna only knows, excellency. The earth shakes, the air is thick. I am an old man, and remember with dread when last I saw such signs. Fly to the shore—the sea may ingulph you; to the hills—they may fall down and overwhelm you; to the plains—and the solid earth may yawn beneath your feet." "Pleasant!" I said, considerably startled; "what do you advise? to seek Seminara? The spire of the Greek cathedral rises yonder above the pine woods and vapour of the marshes." "No, signor, we are safer on the mountains or in the marshes: here let us remain and trust to Madonna for protection." "In God alone is all my trust!" said the Scottish sergeant, whose knowledge of Latin enabled him to understand the sbirro; "but as for your Madonna——" he snapped his fingers without concluding.