"I'll be a sailor too, Cesare," agreed the tallest of the three, nodding his head. "Only poor Giuseppe here will have to stay ashore and be a priest." He turned a sympathetic face toward Giuseppe, who stood with his arms folded, his black eyes looking hungrily out to sea.
"Aye, he'll be teaching other boys just as the Padre teaches us," said Cesare.
This prophecy was more than the third boy could stand. He turned quickly toward his friends. "I'll have adventures, too," he exclaimed. "I'll not stay here in Nice all my life; I'll go to Genoa and to Rome, and perhaps I'll fight the Turks. I want to do things, too." His deep eyes shone with excitement and his face glowed. "Look you, Cesare and Raffaelle, why shouldn't we turn sailors now?"
Both boys laughed; they were used to the mad ideas of young Giuseppe Garibaldi. He, however, was not laughing. "Why not? I've been out to sea a hundred times with father. He lets me handle his boat sometimes, though he does say that I'm to enter the Church. Your brother, Cesare, has a boat that he never uses. Why shouldn't we sail in her to Genoa?"
Giuseppe was a born leader. The other boys looked doubtfully at each other, then back at him. The gleam in his eyes held them.
"Let's sail to-morrow at dawn! You, Cesare, furnish the boat, I'll bring bread and sausage from home, and Raffaelle shall get a jug of water. Your brother's boat is sound, Cesare? We'll sail along the shore to Genoa!"
"Some one will catch sight of us and stop us," objected Raffaelle.
"Nay, we'll wait till the other boats are out. They'll all be off before dawn and we'll have the beach to ourselves."
"I've a compass my uncle gave me on my name day," said Cesare. "I'll bring that."
"And I'll bring some fishing lines," put in Raffaelle, unwilling to be outdone.