“This is metaphorical, good Vito, and must be looked at in a poetical point of view.  Homer speaks of goddesses holding shields before their favorite warriors; while Ariosto makes rats and asses hold discourse together, as if they were members of an academy.  All this is merely the effect of imagination, Signore; and he who has the most is the aptest at inventing circumstances, which, though not strictly true, are vastly agreeable.”

“As for Homer and Ariosto, Signor Vice-governatore, I doubt if either ever saw a vessel with a boot on, or if either ever knew as much about craft in general as we who live here in Porto Ferrajo.  Harkee, friend Filippo, just ask this Americano if, in his country, he ever saw vessels wear boots.  Put the question plainly, and without any of your accursed poetry.”

Filippo did as desired, leaving Ithuel to put his own construction on the object of the inquiry; all that had just passed being sealed to him, in consequence of its having been uttered in good Tuscan.

“Boots!” repeated the native of the Granite state, looking round him drolly; “perhaps not exactly the foot-part, and the soles, for they ought, in reason, to be under water; but every vessel that isn’t coppered shows her boot-top—­of them, I’ll swear I’ve seen ten thousand, more or less.”

This answer mystified the vice-governatore, and completely puzzled Vito Viti.  The grave mariners at the other table, too, thought it odd, for in no other tongue is the language of the sea as poetical, or figurative, as in the English; and the term of boot-top, as applied to a vessel, was Greek to them, as well as to the other listeners.  They conversed among themselves on the subject, while their two superiors were holding a secret conference on the other side of the room, giving the American time to rally his recollection, and remember the precise circumstances in which not only he himself, but all his shipmates, were placed.  No one could be more wily and ingenious than this man, when on his guard, though the inextinguishable hatred with which he regarded England and Englishmen had come so near causing him to betray a secret which it was extremely important, at that moment, to conceal.  At length a general silence prevailed, the different groups of speakers ceasing to converse, and all looking towards the vice-governatore, as if in expectation that he was about to suggest something that might give a turn to the discourse.  Nor was this a mistake, for, after inquiring of Benedetta if she had a private room, he invited Ithuel and the interpreter to follow him into it, leading the way, attended by the podesta.  As soon as these four were thus separated from the others, the door was closed, and the two Tuscans came at once to the point.

“Signor Americano,” commenced the vice-governatore, “between those who understand each other, there is little need of many words.  This is a language which is comprehended all over the world, and I put it before you in the plainest manner, that we may have no mistake.”