“Good for the young American!” the Captain cried. “If these people get too high, just remember that there is such a thing as a cable under the ocean, and that in a few hours you can get orders from New York that they are bound to obey as well as you.”
“Yes, sir; but I hope it will not come to that. That square stone building across the port,” Kit went on, “is the Hôtel de Ville, or City Hall. You see I am getting to be quite a Frenchman. And this wide street that runs down to the end of the port is the Cannebiere, the main street of Marseilles, that is mentioned so often in ‘Monte Cristo.’ And when you follow it up a little ways, it changes into the Allée Meilhan, where Monte Cristo’s father died, you know. Then over at that corner of the port there begins a wide street called the Rue de la République, which runs diagonally down to the breakwater.
“Well, you have made good use of your morning,” the Captain declared.
“Oh, that is only a beginning, sir,” Kit laughed. “I hear that this is considered the unhealthiest city in Europe, because it is so dirty. Why, only three or four years ago all the sewers emptied into this basin, and they say the smell of it was something frightful.”
“I can testify to that,” the Captain interrupted. “Last time I was here it was a standing joke that no ship need take in ballast in Marseilles—the smell of the harbor was strong enough for ballast. It is none too sweet yet, for that matter.”
“And still it is a very fine city,” Kit said; “the most interesting place I have ever seen. There are so many strange things here. That church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde keeps staring at me from its hilltop wherever I go. I have a strong notion to go to see it this afternoon, for I shall be very busy after we begin work.”
“You will have plenty of time after dinner,” the Captain replied. “And I can promise you that you will not be disappointed. We don’t hear much about it in America, because Marseilles is very little known there; but to my mind that church is one of the greatest sights in Europe. I won’t go with you this time, for I lost too much sleep last night and want a nap. But this will be a capital day to go. The Mistral is rising again, and on the top of that hill you will learn something about the force of the wind. You can take Henry with you if you want him, for sight-seeing alone is stupid work.”
Kit was very glad for this permission, both on Harry’s account and his own; and toward the middle of the afternoon they went ashore and took an omnibus to the “Garden of the Ascenseurs,” as the starting-point for the church is called.
“Well, if this is an omnibus, then I never saw a street car,” Harry declared. “It’s exactly like a street car. Why do they call it an omnibus, I wonder?”
“Because it does not run on tracks,” Kit explained. “You see there are no rails; it goes right over the paving-stones. It does look like a street car, that’s a fact, and has the same small wheels.”