Out we raced to the Favara, escaping by some special providence the perils of the road, which like most Sicilian roads was of the very worst description, with its huge ruts filled with loose stones, and the road itself barely wide enough for a coach, and bordered by deep ditches. But desperate men travel safely, and we were soon there. * * * * * And here I must go to the Journal for an account of the wonderful events which had been happening even during our brief absence. _Extract from the Journal, June the --th, 1799._ "After my Battles this has been the most extraordinary twenty-four hours of my life. Yesterday I drove out with Will and Trinder to a _fête_ given in my honour by the Prince of Favara, now much impoverished, but the head of the chief Norman family in the Island, and therefore very well disposed to the English. When I say Norman, he was of course thoroughly Sicilian, as his family had been for centuries; but they are one of the few families of undoubted Norman descent, and therefore, when all the Two Sicilies are raving over their English protectors, feel that they have a sort of claim of kinship. I went out there, purposely, with no one from the ship beyond these two young officers, wishing to spare them the expense of entertaining the large company which goes when the fleet accepts an invitation. Indeed, I did not think seriously about staying overnight with them, having promised the dear faithful Emma to return if it could be managed, though she made it difficult for me by drawing pictures of intended assaults by brigands, without remembering how obstinate I am about flying from the face of an enemy. However, my hostess made such a point of it that I yielded; and when the guests left the _fête_, somewhat early in the night, I packed Will and Trinder with them to warn Emma that I should not be back. She took my warning in a different way, fortunately for me. "In the interval I was like to have been kidnapped, or to have lost my life: the latter, I hear, for Buonaparte has been good enough to say that there is no safety for France while I am alive, and people about whom he says such things do not live long, when there are Frenchmen about.