Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
"
The girls laughed.
"And did the eagle scream, then?" Patsy enquired.
"Just a little, my dear; but if it whispered it would sound mighty loud
in this mummified old world. But we've lost enough time for one day.
Come; let's go see 'Narcissus' and the 'Dancing Faun.'"
CHAPTER XII
MOVING ON
"Here's a letter from my dear old friend Silas Watson," said Uncle John,
delightedly. "It's from Palermo, where he has been staying with his
ward--and your friend, girls--Kenneth Forbes, and he wants me to lug you
all over to Sicily at once."
"That's jolly," said Patsy, with a bright smile. "I'd like to see
Kenneth again."
"I suppose he is a great artist, by this time," said Beth, musingly.
"How singular!" exclaimed Louise. "Count Ferralti told me only this
morning that he had decided to go to Palermo."
"Really?" said Uncle John.
"Yes, Uncle. Isn't it a coincidence?"
"Why, as for that," he answered, slowly, "I'm afraid it will prevent our
seeing the dear count--or whatever he is--again, at least for some
time. For Mr. Watson and Kenneth are just leaving Palermo, and he asks
us to meet him in another place altogether, a town called--called--let
me see; Tormenti, or Terminal, or something."
"Give me the letter, dear," said Patsy. "I don't believe it's Terminal
at all. Of course not," consulting the pages, "it's Taormina."
"Is that in Sicily?" he asked.
"Yes. Listen to what Mr. Watson says: 'I'm told it is the most beautiful
spot in the world, which is the same thing you hear about most beautiful
places. It is eight hundred feet above the Mediterranean and nestles
peacefully in the shadow of Mount Etna.'"
"Etna!" cried Uncle John, with a start. "Isn't that another volcano?"
"To be sure," said Beth, the geographer. "Etna is the biggest volcano in
the world."
"Does it spout?" he asked, anxiously.
"All the time, they say. But it is not usually dangerous."
"The proper thing, when you go to Eu-rope," declared Uncle John,
positively, "is to do Venice, where the turpentine comes from, and
Switzerland, where they make chocolate and goat's milk, and Paris and
Monte Carlo, where they kick high and melt pearls in champagne.
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There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives, but the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this, and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives, and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed.
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