CHAPTER X.

AN ENCOUNTER WITH STREET URCHINS.

Corte has one terrible drawback--nay, two: its extreme dirt and its impudent children.

I have heard it said that the position of the town gives it the advantage of being both a good summer and winter residence, the climate being never too hot or too cold.

It may never be too hot, but it must undoubtedly be a very cold place in winter, from its elevation among the numerous snow mountains that surround it. This, of course, is a matter of taste. But I should doubt extremely its being in any degree healthy in summer.

I heard vague rumours of malaria whilst we were there; and I should not doubt the existence of fever in the hot weather.

I have been in a good many German, Italian, and Corsican towns; but not one of them can vie with Corte in uncleanliness. Corte, I should think, would carry off the palm in filthy pavements, and putrid odours, from any town in Europe.

It was only the beginning of June when we visited it for the second time, and yet there were certain streets, and those not insignificant ones, where it was absolutely necessary to hold one's nose and run.

As there were waste rubbish places in many of these parts, which were nothing at all but open drains, and receptacles for everything horrid that could be thrown upon them from the windows and balconies of the houses around, the objectionable odours were neither astonishing nor unaccountable.

As regards the children of Corte, they are no small drawback to the delights of the place.

The inhabitants are altogether a rough, uncivil set, far less courteous than the generality of Corsicans, and have had an evil reputation amongst strangers for many years.

It is not conducive to the enjoyment of beautiful scenery or a quiet stroll, to be surrounded down the street, and followed far into the country by a mocking, shouting horde of dancing dervishes, not content with roaring out "Inglesé! Inglesé!" with unceasing energy, but making occasional clutches at your dress or umbrella, and stopping up the public way.

The ingenious youth of Corte has one especial diversion, retained for the delectation of the stranger. This consists in holding a stout piece of cord across the road, barring the path, with the shouted intimation, "No pennies, no passage!" or, in their own words, "Sou, sou, Inglese!"

English pride naturally determines that its owner will die sooner than bestow the required penny on these little pests; but this righteous wrath sometimes entails unpleasant results. An acquaintance of ours, then at Corte, had, a few weeks before, been nearly mobbed by the elder part of the community when he attempted to cut the rope and offered to thrash the children. We ourselves came in for an unpleasant encounter, that might have ended awkwardly. We were taking a walk across the valley of the Tavignano, where it rushes, boiling and foaming in splendid cascades over its green and grey boulders, past the city, before joining the equally picturesque river Restonico.

It was Sunday evening; and, unfortunately, we had chosen a time when all the juvenile populace were out of school, and on the look-out for a little innocent amusement.

I have noticed that a demoniac phase often comes over naughty children on a Sunday evening. Be that as it may, a troop of about twenty, chiefly boys, pursued us unrelentingly far outside the precincts of the town, shouting their war-cry of "Sou, Inglese!" and running round and round till we could neither see the views, nor hear ourselves speak.

A rope which they stretched across the road for the customary pastime fortunately broke, and we passed on through the gap; but the broken remains, held by two youthful fiends, served as an instrument of torture wherewith to wind us up and hopelessly confuse our footsteps. Human endurance could bear no more; and, after one or two stern warnings, No. 3, whose wrath had been gradually gathering, suddenly saw her opportunity, and, darting upon two small tormentors before they could escape, she brought down her umbrella upon their degenerate backs with as much force as nature had supplied to her.

Instantly, the attitude of these juvenile Corsicans changed. They had been disporting themselves before: now they prepared for serious warfare. There was a moment's pause; and then a volley of sharp stones came after us.

We walked on quickly, but the charge increased instead of decreasing, one striking No. 2 on the head, and another No. 3 on the heel, but fortunately without inflicting any serious damage.

But flint stones from off a roadside are not pleasing weapons; and things might have ended badly for us, but for a sudden diversion.

From a cottage by the roadside just before us, dashed out three big boys, all over the humanizing age of thirteen; and, undertaking our defence without a word, they made a sudden onslaught upon our pursuers, and in two minutes had put them all to flight.

We were really relieved, and thanked the knights-errant warmly. Two of them, boys of about fourteen or fifteen, had pipes in their mouths; and one of them, a young man a year or two older, remarked sagely, that it was always thus with visitors: "Les enfants de Corte étaient terriblement méchants."

Having bade adieu to our gallant defenders, we were walking on, and had almost forgotten them, when the noise of a terrific struggling and scuffling behind us again attracted our attention.

Our friends had got a boy of about eleven between them, and were dragging him along by the arms by main force.

The boy was resisting with all his power, and was being dragged along almost double, his bare feet scraping the ground in a vain effort not to move, whilst he sobbed and shouted in a passion of rage and terror very unbecoming in one of his heroic race. He was a ragged, dirty, pretty urchin, with large brown eyes, and a wicked face that prophesied for him bigger scrapes some day than stone-throwing.

The two boys who had him in custody brought the unfortunate imp to our astonished feet, and rested there; still gripping him fast, and demanding our good pleasure concerning his chastisement.

"Tenez, mademoiselle," said the third, holding up a big pointed stone, "voilà la pierre qu'il a jetée!" Circumstantial evidence with a vengeance; the culprit confronted with the instrument of his iniquity!

Perhaps we were weak; but we forgave that terror-stricken boy (who, I verily believe, expected some vendetta-like vengeance at our hands), and he was allowed to slink off with an admonition from us to "do so no more."

Coming back, these same big boys again overtook us; and, quietly remarking that they would see us safe home, they escorted us to the door of our hotel with much polite conversation, and then made off, raising their caps.

These boys were in the lower ranks of life, although decently dressed; but it would have been an insult to offer them any recompense. Their action proceeded from chivalry "pur et simple," and they had no notion of any reward.

Weeks afterwards, when two of us returned to Corte, a smiling face suddenly attracted our attention in the streets one day, and we recognized one of our boyish defenders. Of course we greeted him, and he lifted his cap, remarking, "I have seen _you_ for the last half hour."