PERILOUS INDISCRETION. 379 the iniquity to which, like them, I was a victim. They honoured me with their friendship, and I wish them to learn from my own lips, if possible, how religiously I have preserved the remembrance of it.* The day before yesterday, I played a prank which might have cost me dear. Colonel Prokesch, who, after I had left Cairo, came to this city to wait for a vessel to take him to Trieste, was to sail in an Austrian brig. I had accompanied him on board. The vessel had still several things to take in; and the captain assured me that he should not leave the harbour before six in the morning. I retired, promising the colonel and his aidede-camp, captain Kudriaffsky, to come back and bid them farewell; and I took the precaution to retain a boat for the purpose. In performance of my promise, I repaired very early next morning to the harbour with M. Babich, chief dra At the moment when I was writing this, I had no doubt that cardinal Pedicini was the same person as the abbé Cosimo Pedicini, an ecclesiastic of extraordinary merit, who was my fellow-prisoner at Vincennes. To the kindness of one of the most respectable members of the sacred college, I am indebted for the information that this is a mistake. The cardinal never was in France. The abbé Cosimo Pedicini, my companion in misfortune, was secretary to cardinal Pacca, with whom he continued till his death. Among the distinguished persons whose captivity I shared, and whom I should have been very sorry not to meet with, had it been possible for me to go to Rome as I intended, I shall here mention with a deep feeling of respect and gratitude the illustrious and venerable Father Fontana, since created cardinal by Leo XII., and taken from the Church in 1822. It was chiefly in my conversations with this learned and holy ecclesiastic that I learned to know all the importance of the destinies of man. It was principally the example of his virtues and the lessons of his wisdom which made me feel the nothingness of all that I had till then been pursuing, and seriously turn my thoughts to the only important things, those of eternity. 380 PERILOUS INDISCRETION. goman of the consulate. But, to our great surprise, the brig was already at sea: we saw her sailing in the offing. There was but little wind, and that unfavourable: I had no doubt that by rowing lustily we should soon overtake her. The boatmen were of a different opinion. They made some remonstrances, but to no purpose; I turned a deaf ear to them, promised a handsome gratuity, and away we went. The boat, which belonged to a vessel from Trieste, was small, but manned by four stout seamen. Induced by my promises, they rowed with all their might: it soon fell quite calm, and in a few hours we found ourselves alongside the brig, which had perceived us. M. von Prokesch, his aide-de-camp, and the crew, were lost in astonishment. "I promised," said I to the good colonel, "that I would come and take leave of you. You see that I am a man of my word." He thanked me with emotion. "But," added he, "it is a very great imprudence to come so far, and it might involve you in serious danger.” And, fearing lest the calm should not last till I could reach Alexandria, he begged me to hasten my return. Standing up in my boat, I continued for a long time to salute with my hand or my handkerchief those excellent officers with whom I had passed such agreeable hours. Then, when I could no longer see them, came reflexions on the freak that I had played. Did it become a monk of La Trappe? As an excuse for it, I repeated on this occasion what I had said to myself on a hundred others, that the religious life acts more upon the heart than upon the head, and that it almost always leaves to the mind the character which it has received from Nature. : ADVENTURE AT PALERMO. 381 At any rate, I am an evidence that this is sometimes the case. Notwithstanding my age and my toils, I am as brisk as I was at thirty; and as to the dangers that I have defied in my time, what you have just read is only a repetition of what I am going to relate to you. Their majesties the king and queen of Naples had just married their daughter Christina to the duke of Aosta, afterwards king of Sardinia, who died a few years since. The situation of the royal family at that time prevented it from giving any splendid festivities on the occasion: but, on the day that the august couple were united, the queen, whose spirit was generous and great, married and portioned one hundred young women. The moment of parting was painful. The queen was exceedingly affected; and the princess Maria Amelia, in particular, who had never before been separated from her sister, and loved her dearly, appeared inconsolable. The good king had but a single man-of-war left- the Tancred. In this ship the royal couple embarked for Cagliari. Two English frigates accompanied her. The day after they had sailed, having called upon the queen, I found her at her window, watching with a telescope the ship that was conveying two persons so dear to her heart. When I had the honour to approach her, "Look," said her majesty, " look! how my children must suffer!" The sea was, in fact, very rough, and the Tancred old and a bad sailer. No sooner had I left the princess than I drove off to the dockyard. With great difficulty and by the offer of a large reward, I hired six men and a boat, and off we instantly went to the Tancred. It was not till the first 382 ADVENTURE AT PALERMO. wave broke over us that I recollected that I was in a court-dress, and that too in the Hungarian fashion, that is to say, booted and spurred and with a sword by my side. Conceive my vexation, my dear Charles, on perceiving that I was without cloak; for my chivalrous costumeforgive the expression-and my arms were of little use against the assault of the element. We had not been a quarter of an hour at sea before I heard one of the men say to his comrade: O m'inganno molto, o siamo qui sette matti- "I am greatly mistaken if we are not seven madmen." I affected not to understand him. After prodigious efforts we approached the ship, whose deck was covered with people. But how was I to get on board? My boat, sometimes high, sometimes low, according to the motion of the waves, was liable to be dashed against the Tancred, and in that case we must be lost. At length, however, I was upon the deck. I was surrounded, and made known that the baron de Geramb had come to inquire how their royal highnesses did. I begged permission to pay my respects to them, and was immediately introduced. The princess was in bed, suffering severely from sea-sickness: the prince and two ladies, seated by her, appeared much fatigued. "Her majesty," said I to their highnesses, " is very anxious to learn how you are, and I am come to inquire, that I may let her know." The prince and princess expressed their thanks, and said many gracious and flattering things. "We cannot allow you to leave us in such dreadful weather," they added; "it would be too dan * The author was then chamberlain to the emperor of Austria. CROCODILE AND MUMMY. 383 gerous. You shall come with us to Cagliari, whence you may return safely in our ship or in one of the English frigates." I thanked their royal highnesses in my turn, and represented that, as nobody knew where I was, my absence would occasion painful anxiety, especially to my son; and besides, the object of my voyage, which was to tranquillize the queen, would be unaccomplished. Upon these representations they consented to my return. I reached Palermo, after luckily escaping more than one danger, but drenched to the skin. Taking no more time than was required to change my clothes, I hastened to give the queen intelligence of her august children. Her majesty already knew where I had been. Closely watching the Tancred, she had perceived the boat, and had no doubt that I was in it. After a few rebukes for my temerity, she condescended to say: "I cannot help scolding you, my dear Geramb; but be assured that I appreciate this new pledge of your attachment,* and that I shall never forget it." Among the curiosities that I have brought from Cairo, besides the crocodile, which I have already mentioned, there is a superb mummy. I intend to take it on board with me, but it is not certain that I shall be able to do so. In this particular, seamen are so superstitious that scarcely one captain could be found in a hundred who would allow it to be shipped. In case of unfavourable weather, a contrary wind, a storm, the mummy would be the cause of it; the mummy would have drawn down * In 1805 and 1806, the author commanded in Austria a volunteer corps raised at his expence, which bore the name of the empress Maria Theresa, daughter of the queen of Naples. |