Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-06-01
THE GULF OF FIRE.

III T. Il
.you are wrong, Captain, wrongi Old
,,.sn yonder," and as the crone spoke,
s5og out her wrinkled forefnger, in
of disdain, toward the lowland
S 'sn,ry at the base of the great spurs of
49, 81 she looked wierd and wild enough,
~ her ragged gray hair and fiery eyes,
'.he Sibyl OF Cuma-'so old women yon-
say. may not be worth listening to.
=, was Graded up here in the very lap
We'll. well, mothern' / answered
.oo,b;ngly: Il am far from doubling
~, skili In the three months of my
have learned something of the un-
-ssip humors Of the burning mountain,
~ trust me, I'll not venture too tar
AM the safe track"
@Ah. Inglesel You are just like the
=, II the young men," said old Assunta
"+,h somewhat of rude pity in her tone !;
sronr be warned Had | not three
,.S sons? Two were coral-fishers. One
saoyed Garibaldi to Naples and Gaeta
q At any rate, is laid in dry earth, as a
tristan should be-not like Beppo and
To,ti Have a care lest your grave be
pa hot onew And with nod OF her
head and wave OF her hand she was
gone :.
,rpssion on me which | vainly tried TO
tbake off. Let me explain how matters
s,ood In the first place it was only I'M
dpr the pressure of misfortune that |,
George Clements, lately second officer of
frstrate clipper ship, had become a
Sub.Iuspector, or, more correctly, an act
;ng Sub. Inspector. in the Royal Sulphur
Works on Mount Etna. My ill-luck had
hrought me there. In an evil hour | had
been talked into investing my savings
some two hundred pounLs-in becoming
mart owner of Maltese coasting vessel, on
hoard of which | was mate, the skipper
being Maltese named Antonio, worthy
old fellow in his way, but obstinate as a
mule and niggardly to degree.
So long as we met with average weather
our voyages were prosperous and we
Melted dollars. But three days storm,
a rarity in the Mediterranean, sent US
staggering, dismasted, leaky and with a
frightened crew, under the clItfs OF Sicily.
was the one Englishman on board, and
il was only by the utmost exertions that
could force the olives skinned Southern
sr TO leave off telling their beads and in
wking the saints, and keep the pumps
going AS it was, the schooner laid her
bones on the beach near Catania, and
though no lives were lost the wreck of
property was complete. The skipper had
relations in Malta who would take him
in, but /, the English mate, who now
owned nothing but the sailors suit came
ashore in, might have starved, had not the
British Vice Consul kindly recommended
me for the petty post | DOW filled, and
which insured me bare subsistence, and
10 more.
These sulphur mines, whence comes by
far the greater proportion of the raw sui
phur OF commerce, have always been n
Government monopoly, like the salt works
or the tobacco factories. Indeed | have
heard that King Bomba, at critical point
the Crimean war, had thoughts OF pro-
hibiting the export of the Sicilian sui
phur, without which the powder mills OF
England could not furnish ammunition,
and the present rulers of the island could
notneglect such source of revenue. The
collection of the sulphur, naturally de-
posted by the volcanic forces, ever rest
less beneath the soil, does not require
much skill, but the occupation is toll
Ome and unhealthy one, poorly remune-
nled, and not always exempt from peril.
Sulphur gatherers are not, as rule,
native Sicilians. The majority were, at
the time of my sub-inspectorship, immi-
grants from the mainland, whose antece-
dents il was perhaps quite rs well not to
pry into. A tierce-looking set OF sallow,
ragged rufiians they were, with unkempt
hair and boards, and haggard faces inno-
cent Of the touch of soap and water, al
ways gambling, now with pack of
greasy cards, now, in Neapolitan fashion,
With dirty fingers uplifted. and quarreling
IS savagely over intinitesimal stakes as
though fortune had been in jeopardy.
AS for old Assunta, she was the widow OF
scharcoal bur ner, and still, with the help
o. her grandchildren, managed TO sell a
lew ass-loads of fuel in the city below.
ihe family, however, bore an i'll repute
poaching, pilfering and, believe,
scrcery, ana / am afraid that Assunta her
sell encouraged this last report as a source
o. profit. Her regard for me was merely
que TO the fact that had prevented some
oi our rough workmen, who insisted that
sne was witch and had the evil eye, from
nlnging her, body and bones, into the
Nintry torrent that rushed roaring past
our huis, and ever since that day she had
Deen patronizingly polite to ii Captain,
Us she called me.
Mine was not, as Sub Inspector, very
desirable position. The Inspector, save
VA payday, die not often show himself,
ana when he did visit the scene Of his
nominal duties, would have been power
iess TO enforce any sort of discipline
among our black sheep, but for me. by
NC combined effects of coaxing, good
Aumored banter, and the occasional argu-
nent OF knock down blow, had con-
Iised to establish some ascendency over
We Wild spirits around me, and was rather
popular than otherwise, although at first
ny orders had been met with Sowing
siances and lingering OF knives. The
"osK 70 De done was none of the pleasant
81 y, The crude sulphur, seldom quite
.olu, and often glowing hot, had to be
'aAso with hoes and iron hooks from the