Page:Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes.djvu/92

66 At last we agreed to take one of the many canoes and make for the water gate half a mile and upward across the Bay. This we did and landed safely and had the good fortune to find the gate open for those passing out & entered. We went to the Hotel in hopes of finding the Officers on liberty but they had all gone to Opera. And then we determined to have a game of billiards taking our interpreter with us whom we stowed in one corner of the room, the farthest from the door, & covered him with his Giaco [giacca] where he was shortly fast asleep Wilson and myself took to playing billiards, and while busily engaged, who should enter but our Captain. I at once told him of our errand on shore, & what had brought us there. I was forced to be the spokesman as Wilson was in such cases through modesty and an impediment of his Speech or hesitancy which amounted to it. The Captain walked deliberately round the table looking under it, said he did not think we would find him there and left us in our astonishment, over which we had a hearty laugh. We were afterwards joined by the officers and made our way on board. Some few words passed with the guard at the Gate, and it ended by locking the guard in the Guard house and passing out the post gate. The Keys of it and the Guard house were chucked over the wall & we went on board. It was a Mids' frolic and we enjoyed it not a little, expecting, of course, the next Morning to have a regular fuss. But none came & we had escaped, but we afterwards found that our Captain had had a report made to him but had passed it off without further notice. It was seldom indeed that a party of Mids had not some kind of incident back in those days.

The cicerone of Syracuse were much put to it to answer the questions put to them, one in particular, where the fleet lay in the Harbour which Archimedes burnt with his mirrors; and many were [the questions] which they failed of to answer for they knew nothing about it or probably never had heard but it was [illegible]. The present Syracuse is a very small town and as all Sicilian towns are remarkable for their uncleanliness and rank Smells.

We had much to do on shipboard overhauling ship. Mr Smith was very fond of having the boats well equipped and delighted to take a sail. He had one of the small boats, the jolly boat, nicely fitted up with sails and I was inclined, in one of his pleasant moods, to ask him to take a sail in her. This he assented to & I had a nice time of it but coming alongside the Ship there was a rough sea as the Masts just came under the booms in the Chains and in an instant both masts were broken off at the thwarts. It was a laughable accident, and although Smith was greatly vexed at the time, he said nothing but hummed a sort of tune. It was the last time I asked to take a sail in a Ship's boat.

The United States took her departure and in passing out of the harbour the Wind failed & signal was made for all our boats to tow. It was promptly rendered. I was in the Launch, and such a wild uproar as we heard when we got along side that fairly astounded us. Billy the Bilger was on deck and greatly excited. One of the first expressions I heard just above my head was in his vernacular, "You d—n whelp,