140

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

which had stood on a massive marble table placed againstthe wall. The huge iron money chest in the counting-house, actually removed several inches from the wallbehind it, in which a fissure six inches wide appeared from theceiling to the floor. The kitchen table covered with silverforks, and spoons, and other articles-—in fine, everythingdenoted the violence of the earthquake and the precipitancyof my friend Bottalin’s decampment.

At Naples, as in France , there are no such convenientarrangements as payments by cheques on bankers, &c., buteach merchant keeps his cash chest and pays bills due andother claims in specie, at his own counting-house. Themoney is carried from one merchant to another by porters(Facchini), which are no other than the shoeless Lazzaroni,whom our flippant travellers call “ lazy,” because theyoften see them without work to do ; —“ importunatebecause they are ever anxious to earn an honest penny, andbeg hard for employment. The Facchino principally em-ployed by Mr. Bottalin was a fine tall, honest, simple-minded Lazzarone, named Cristofaro. I had not been manyminutes in the deserted house before Cristofaro stalked in,dressed in his brown capotte, under which he had tuckeda huge pistol and a stilo of large dimensions. He had justallowed.hiinselftime to secure his wife and children, and thenhastened to see if he could be of any service to his periodicalemployer. The cash-chest contained several thousandpounds in gold and silver; the plate, as I have stated, waspartly lying about, any body might have helped himself.We fastened the doors, placed lighted lamps in several partsof the house, and loaded our guns and pistols, in case of avisit from marauders. I then attached a strong knottedrope to the iron railing of a balcony over a back street tofurnish an escape from the house, because if another shockhad taken place the main stair case must have all come