"Well, all this motley crowd, increased now by the two young American naval men, and soon after joined by three British naval officers, was collected around a common nucleus—a smoking kettle, with the larger part of a calf in it, and a liberal allowance of onions, a basket with heaps of fresh bread, and a barrel containing Marsala. Every one helped himself in the most communistic manner, using fingers and knife, and drinking out of the solitary tin pot. It is only in this irregular warfare that you see these scenes in their greatest perfection. The long marches and countermarches, rains, fights, and sleeping on the ground, had made almost every one worthy to figure in a picture by Murillo, with all those grand Sicilian mountains, not unlike those of Greece, forming a background such as no picture can reproduce." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GARIBALDI IN COUNCIL. "Soon after my arrival, Garibaldi made his appearance, and received his foreign visitors with that charming, quiet simplicity which characterizes him, lending himself with great complaisance to the invariably recurring demands of autographs, and answering the numerous questions which were naturally put to him. It was only after the departure of his guests that the general resumed business. The question debated was nothing more nor less than to venture on a _coup de main_ on Palermo the same night. There was no doubt, all the information went to show, that the Neapolitans had taken the bait thrown out for them—that they had taken a feigned retreat for a defeat, and the sending back of the guns toward the interior as a sign of discouragement. As to the flank movement to Misilmeri, they seemed to have no idea of it, for men come from Piani stated that they were in force in that place. Another considerable body of men was at Parco, and on the road beyond it. In Monreale, the reports spoke likewise of several thousand. In fact, the approaches to these two last-named places, called the Piana di Borazzo and the Theresa, both of which are close to the Palazzo Reale, in the southwest part of the town, were the points of concentration, while the outlets from the southerly and the southeasterly parts of the town were comparatively undefended. Former events had forced the Neapolitans to pay attention to the topography of the town, so as to remain masters of it in case of a popular rising. This was not very easy in such a town as Palermo, which, like a true southern town, forms a labyrinth of small and tortuous streets, flanked by