At this there arose another shout of applause from the whole crowd,
which completed the amazement of the tourists. Meanwhile the yacht
swung up close to the wharf, and as there was nothing else to be done
they prepared to land, leaving her in charge of her crew, which
consisted of several sailors from one of the American frigates. The
blue shirts of these fellows formed a pleasing contrast to the red
shirts and reefing jackets of the others, and the crowd on the wharf
seemed to feel an indiscriminate admiration for he crew as well as
for the masters. Such attentions were certainly somewhat
embarrassing, and presented to these adventurous spirits a novel kind
of difficulty; but whether novel or not, there was now no honorable
escape from it, and they had to encounter it boldly by plunging into
the midst of the crowd. So they landed--eight as singular figures as
ever disturbed the repose of this peaceful town of Salerno. Obed
headed the procession, dressed in a red shirt with black trowsers,
and a scarf tied round his waist, while a broad-brimmed felt hat
shaded his expansive forehead. His tall form, his broad shoulders,
his sinewy frame, made him by far the most conspicuous member of this
company, and attracted to him the chief admiration of the spectators.
Low, murmured words arose as he passed amidst them, expressive of the
profound impression which had been produced by the sight of his
magnificent physique. After him came the others in Indian file; for
the crowd was dense, and only parted sufficiently to allow of the
progress of one man at a time. The Southerner came next to Obed, then
the Heidelbergians, then the naval officers, while the clergyman and
the Cincinnati lawyer, in their picturesque pea-jackets, brought up
the rear. Even in a wide-awake American town such a company would
have attracted attention; how much more so in this sleepy, secluded,
quiet, Italian town! especially at such a time, when all men every
where were on the look-out for great enterprises.