The train leaves in two hours." And putting him in a vacant hack, he disappeared with precipitation.
Finding himself alone, the captain almost believed that he had dreamed of those two preceding days.
He was again seeing Palermo after an absence of long years: and he experienced the joy of an exiled Sicilian on meeting the various carts of the countryside, drawn by broken-down horses with plumes, whose badly-painted wagon bodies represented scenes from "Jerusalem Delivered." He recalled the names of the principal roads,--the roads of the old Spanish viceroys.

In one square he saw the statue of four kings of Spain....

But all these souvenirs only inspired in him a fleeting interest.

What he particularly noticed was the extraordinary movement in the streets, the people grouping themselves together in order to listen to the reading of the daily papers.

Many windows displayed the national flag, interlaced with those of France, England, and Belgium.
Upon arriving at the station he learned the truth,--was informed of the event to which the merchant had alluded while they were in the skiff.
It was war!...