“She wishes you to desist, Captain Everson;” I remarked, as I detected the action.
“Can’t help that, Ma’am;” answered the commander of the Ferdinand: “she’s the Prince’s wife; and she shall have her thirteen guns, whether she likes them or not.”
She “had” them accordingly, and they were fired in excellent style; while the two boats of the Principality flaunted their party-coloured glories across to the other shore. I do not know whether Her Highness anticipated the probability of being compelled to “smell powder” on her return, as well as on her departure; but it is certain that she did not land near the Ferdinand when she repassed to the Moldavian side of the river.
On the following morning, it was announced to us that His Highness the Hospodar intended to honour the vessel with a visit; and we were particularly requested to avoid coming in contact with himself or suite, lest we might bequeath the plague to his Principality in return for his politeness. Of course we promised compliance; and as the Pannonia had not yet made her appearance, we were glad of any excitement to relieve the tedium of our detention. At eleven o’clock the wretched drums and fifes of the garrison announced that the Prince was approaching. The guard at the entrance of the quarantaine ground was turned out; officers, covered with tags, aiguilettes, and embroidery passed and repassed the palisade; a crowd of idlers lined the road; the Tyrolean boatmen were once more at their post; the trading vessels in the port, which were lading with wheat, had their decks clean washed, and their colours hoisted.—In short, the harbour of Galatz was in the full enjoyment of “a sensation,” when the gates of the enclosure were thrown back, and into the infected space walked His Highness, a little sandy-haired man, with huge whiskers and mustachioes, perfectly matched in tint to the enormous pair of golden epaulettes that he wore on a plain blue frock coat.—On his right stood his Russian Dragoman, covered with a dozen ribbons, clasps, and medals; who never opened his mouth without lifting his cap, and uttering “Mon Prince” in an accent of the most fulsome adulation: and on his left walked his physician, a fine young man of very gentlemanlike manners and appearance. Immediately behind him came the Moldavian Minister of the Interior, all furs and wadded silk; and the procession was closed by a score of Aides-de-camp, Officers of the Household, and hangers-on.
The party remained a considerable time in the quarantaine-enclosure ere they came on board; and I suspect that His Highness began to repent that he had volunteered so perilous a visit; but as it was too late to recede, he at length ventured to trust “Caesar and his fortunes” to the temporary keeping of the Plague-ship; and advancing to the stern of the vessel where our party were standing, he very graciously expressed his regret that he could not avail himself, as he should have been delighted to do, of our presence in the Principality, by claiming us as guests during our stay, owing to the unhappy prevalence of plague in the country that we had left. After this he talked very solemnly of the necessity of strictly observing the quarantaine; made two or three more bows in a peculiarly ungraceful style; declined the champaigne that had been prepared for him in the great cabin; and made his exit with infinitely more alacrity than he had made his entry; only pausing in the enclosure to lift his hat as the first gun was fired, of the salute which celebrated his visit.
When His Highness had departed, and that the last scene of this Moldavian comedy had been enacted, we had nothing left to do but to walk the deck, and contemplate the muddiest-looking of all rivers. Unlike the Pasha of Varna, the Hospodar made no inquiry into our wants and wishes, and no offer of the local milk and honey that might have tended to increase our comfort on board; although the Captain of the Ferdinand sent him a bushel basket of magnificent grapes, which, after they had been subjected to repeated immersion, were declared to be non-conductors, and were admitted to pratique accordingly.
It was not until five o’clock in the afternoon of the second day, that the Pannonia anchored beside us; and, as she had to take her coals on board, she could not sail until eight and forty hours after her arrival. The transfer of passengers did not take place until late on the morrow; for when the inferiority of her accommodations became apparent, we of the Ferdinand were in no haste to change our quarters.
We had left Constantinople in a fine, well-kept ship; where a barrier was erected which preserved the after-deck from the intrusion of the inferior passengers: and where the cabins were comfortably fitted up, and supplied in the most liberal manner with every thing that could contribute to the convenience of their occupants; and, although we were quite prepared for less space in the Pannonia, from the fact of her being merely a river boat, we were by no means satisfied on discovering the confusion that existed on her decks; where groups of dirty Turks, and noisy Greeks, were squatted from her funnel to her stern; blocking up the path of the cabin-passengers, and filling their clothes with vermin, and their atmosphere with the fumes of bad tobacco; nor the cheerless discomfort below, where not even a washing-stand had been provided; and we were suddenly thrown upon our own resources for all those little comforts, that from the arrangement of the vessel in which we left the port of Constantinople, we were entitled to expect throughout the voyage. Thus much for the disarray of the Pannonia; and I mention it in order to prepare future travellers on the Danube not to be misled, as we ourselves were by the satisfactory aspect of the Ferdinand, into a belief that such will continue to gladden them on the river; while on the other hand I am bound in justice to add that the table is infinitely better served than that of the first vessel; a fact that may perhaps compensate to many individuals for the absence of those personal comforts of which our own party so bitterly felt the want.
Nor must I omit to make honourable mention of the artiste to whom this department was confided. An Italian by birth, and a wit by nature, as well as a cook by profession, we were indebted to him and his guitar for many a pleasant hour that would otherwise have passed heavily enough. As the dusk grew into darkness, he used to come upon deck with his instrument, and sing Neapolitan buffo songs, with a spirit and gusto that almost convulsed us with laughter. And as we stood about him, listening to his minstrelsy, and looking on the bright moonlight silvering along the river-tide, where it was not overshadowed by the tall trees that fringed the bank beside which we were gliding; and startling with our somewhat noisy merriment the deep silence of those scantily-peopled shores; the effect upon my mind was most extraordinary.