And as his mother asked then, so Mrs. Sprague asked now, "What will you do?"
"I will follow the king to Messina and ask him to make me one of the patrol guard," the boy answered.
They were standing on the quay as he spoke, and could see a relief-ship which was getting up steam, ready to sail out of the harbor.
Mrs. Sprague was alarmed. She knew that the boy would not be allowed to go into the ruined city, and she felt sure that his mother would not permit him to go if she were there; but in the excitement it was possible for him to slip away at any moment, under the mistaken idea that he could be of service.
She put her hand upon the boy's arm to detain him, if indeed he needed to be detained, and said, "How can I make you see that it is not possible for you to be of any use there?"
A man in naval uniform, who was just about to step into a tender and go out to the relief-ship, heard her words and turned, looking into Rafael's face.
He smiled suddenly and held out his hand. "We have met before, when life was brighter," he said; and Rafael recognized with delight the man who had listened to the serenade at the Rialto bridge with him, that summer night in Venice.
"May I go with you?" asked the boy impetuously.
The officer looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Our ambassador has sent me down to see what Messina needs most," he said, "and I shall be gone but a day or two. I see no harm in taking you along; but there must be no nonsense about doing patrol duty."
So it came about that Rafael went to Messina and saw the ruin and destruction caused by the greatest earthquake in the history of the world.