The camp was astir early. The first sounds came from the kitchen, where the American who cooked for the men and the Sicilian who cooked for the officers made a great to-do with their pots and pans. Next came the music of the goat bells—where did they come from? (“Belknap thinks of everything.”) A great herd of shaggy goats came rambling into the camp, driven by their dark wild-looking herders. Jugs and bowls were brought out, and the morning supply of milk was drawn from the streaming udders of the patient goats, who browsed and nibbled at whatever they could find. Breakfast was served at six, a Gargantuan feast. There is a legend that the first morning a hungry carpenter made away with nine eggs and the larger part of a ham. After breakfast the workmen began to arrive, for the greater part of the actual manual work was done by Italians; the American officers, carpenters and sailors acted as overseers, directing the work. The first day after the “Celtic” arrived they started with five Italian workmen; the next day they had thirty; by the end of the fourth week Belknap employed five hundred Sicilian and Calabrian workmen at Messina alone.
As they arrive, each man is given his tools and his number is recorded. The boys come eating crusts of bread, sleepy-eyed and inclined to take time to finish their scanty meal. The men saunter leisurely to their work, smoking their pipes. The voice of the great “boss carpenter” is heard here, there, everywhere:
“Get to work, darn ye! It’s past seven
MESSINA. ARRIVAL OF FURNITURE FOR AMERICAN COTTAGES. [Page 248.]
AMERICAN VILLAGE, MESSINA. VIA BICKNELL, FIRST STREET. [Page 238.]
AMERICAN CAMP, MESSINA. STRAGGLERS FROM THE HERD. Page 251.
