Francesco and Gasperone, the Sicilian servants, have a third helper, Mr. Buchanan’s “boy,” a magnificent negro. This full-blooded African giant stands six-feet-two; he is broad of shoulder, narrow of hip, with teeth like new-peeled almonds and eyes like the big Sicilian oxen. He has the same pictorial “value” as the blacks Paul Veronese painted in his Venetian feasts. Dinner begins with a loin of good roast American pork from the “Celtic’s” store. The big negro offers a dish to go with the pork, whispering in a gentle lisp: “Apple thause, thir?” After dinner there is a short pause; work only begins again at one o’clock. Pipes are lighted; in Flagstaff Square the sailors have a game of baseball, watched and cheered by a delighted crowd of Messinesi. Work is over for the men at halfpast five, for the masters [Illustration: AVVOCATO DONATI. _Page 238._] [Illustration: MR. BUCHANAN’S “BOY” AND HIS MATES. _Page 258._] [Illustration: MESSINA. QUITTING WORK. _Page 258._] [Illustration: ARRIVAL OF THE BARBER. _Page 265._] only at bedtime. There is no theatre, no place of amusement, not even a cinematograph in Messina. At sunset the young sailors, who have worked all day and are not yet tired, wrestle and box together, for the lust of life that is in them. A crowd of men and boys gathers to watch and applaud; if the sounds of labor are welcome in this silent city, the joyous sounds of play are twice welcome. Between nine and ten J., who works in a little cubby-hole shut off from the captain’s office, is ready to turn in. He has stood all day at his drawing-board, making the plans as fast--or almost--as Belknap asks for them. His bed is “delightfully comfortable;” the “spring” is given by nailing the planks at one end of the bunk and leaving them free at the other, so that they have some play; mattress and pillow are of good sweet seaweed. “Last night was chilly,” he writes, “but thanks to the traveling rug, in addition to two blankets and Hooper’s coat, I was quite warm. I got the tip from a native that the nights were cold and passed on my acquired knowledge, but it was unheeded by the others, who got left. I knew I should be too sleepy to put the extra things on, so I plumped them all on before I went to sleep. Tonight we are going to be supplied with extra blankets. It’s now a little after one o’clock and the heat is quite uncomfortable; it seems stupid to be talking of blankets.”