Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-09-22

70 the iSland."
 "You are right, sister. We must try, in the first place, not to die of starvation.n
 He picked up his nets and loosened the ! cable by which the bark was tied to the shore, while Jeanne aided Isabella and Pedrilla to take their places fin the little craft.
 They seated themselves at one end of it. and the fisherman took up his station at the other. He unfurled his triangular sail, seized the rudder, and the light bark, skimming the waters surface like sea new, immediately bore away toward Procida.
 Isabella, as may be imagined, had been struck by certain remarks which fell from Jeanne in the course of the conversation she had with her brother before quitting the shore. She was desirous of knowing why the soldiers of her father had, the night be- fore, wounded man in whom the fisherman and his sister seemed to take so great an in- terest Isabella hesitated long while, for the brothers countenance was overcast, and the sister appeared pensive; neither seemed disposed to enter into conversation. At last however, Isabella ventured to break the silence.
 '1f you will tell me your name," said she to the young man. II shall be happy to send you those of my friends who may be desirous of sailing about the bay"
 My name is Thomas Aniello, senora," said the fisherman, "but my companions call me Masaniello."
 "Why do you call me senorag" asked Isa- bella.
 "Because you have Spanish accent. Be sides, heard you just now address few words in Castilian to the person who Is with you"
 "Ohl" said Isabella, much confused; "you understand Castilian, thenf"
 iaL ever to know how to speak the language of his masters. It is a means of being the bet ter able to serve them, when they are kind hearted, and of more easily demanding jus tice when they are tyrannical."
 A deep carnation covered the cheeks of the young girl, for while Masaniello and his sis ter were talking of their own affairs, she recollected having said to her nurse: What pity it is that handsome young man like this should wear the woolen cap and the ugly canvas jacket of common sailor! A more accomplished cavalier could not be found at court"
 Her embarrassment was, therefore, ex- treme, when she learned that Masaniello had understood this phrase; but as the young man, who continued to look grave, seemed to pay little attention to the strangers opin- ion of his person, Isabella soon gained cour-
 
 'You are right" said she, II am Spanish, and my father is an officer in the viceroy's guards. I was therefore much grieved just now to hear that some soldiers, who are perhaps commanded by my father, had wounded a person who seems dear to you Let me know the place where the attack was made, as we'll as the corps to which these soldiers belong, and I give you my word of honor that they shall be punished"
 These soldiers only obeyed their orders, senora," replied the fisherman; Lit is not they, therefore, who are guilty They arc but passive instruments in the hands of tyranny, and 1t is with this tyranny itself that we must cope hand to hand"
 "W1th the viceroyf' exclaimed the young girl, in a voice full of emotion
 "Yes, sonora; with the viceroyln
 What do you reproach him with, then7"
 Il reproach him with making the people groan beneath the weight of the taxes heaped upon them"
 But he acts In the name of Spain; 1t is not he whom you ought to accuse"
 "'Iis he alone that I accuse And it is too much the interest of Spain to preserve her conquest, for her not to disavow his malad- m1nistration and his vile, unbearable despot- ism, which, If continued will some day force the people of Naples to revolt"
 Great heaven! can this be true?'
 ''Senora, you will be of my opinion, when you have heard how Pietro has been treated"
 ''Speakp said Isabella, trembling with emotion.
 "Pietro," began the fisherman, sshas been my friend since childhood. We are both from Amalf, and he came last year to Ma pies, where he hoped, by his labor, to keep himself from want. But at Naples labor produces nothing, and only leads to ruin"
 ''How sop asked Isabella
 "You shall hear" replied the fisherman. "Pietro had an aged father to support. He first of all turned laborer, SO that he might scrape together enough money to buy boat with. By dint of hard work and privations he succeeded, and then he came and built a hut next to mine. The viceroy issued two edicts, one after the other, about this time The first of them announced that every fish erman possessing a boat should pay an an- nual tax of sixty silver reals, and, by the second, all the cabins built along the shore were subjected to duty of from twenty to thirty ducats, according to their size Thus Pietro and had, each of us, to pay annually to the flsc about two hundred reals, that is much more than we make by our trade"
 "Merciful powersl But did you make no representations to the viceroyr'
 "The viceroy turns deaf ear to all com plaints, and only thinks of enriching himself with our spells. His yearly allowance is a hundred thousand ducats, and he sends an- nually to Spain thirty ships, each loaded with three millions of piasters Reflect on the Iargeness of the sum! For it is out of the people of Naples that all thls gold is sweatedr'
 Isabella turned pale, but kept silent.
 "When called upon to pay I, heaven be thanked. was ready; for Jeanne is an angel, and courageously gets up every morning at o'clock to go and sell her fruit at the mar ket of Naples. No sax has as yet been put on this calling. Fruit forms almost the sole food of the people; and the government merely hesitates, because 1t is afraid to at tack them In their very existence Ohi if our tyrants were ever mad enough to do thatl"
 Jeanne raised her fine and melancholy head, and, looking at her brother, said 'The tax on fruit will be decreed this week: it was said so at the market yesterday"
 "Great Heavenl it is impossiblel" ex- claimed the daughter of the viceroy
 "Everything is possible to insensate power, which ever refuses to see the light" replied Masaniello. "But to return to Pietro: I had 200 reals by me, but he, poor fellow, was far