What Happened to Holy Saint Pancras of Evolo

"Down with him! Into the sea with the old pig-head! Let him come to reason among the crabs and cuttle-fish! Now he touches water, -- now he swims, -- now he goes under! There, Evoluccio, may you find it cool and pleasant!"

He who made all this shouting and ranting was the little broad-shouldered Cesare Agresta, ship-trader, and he stood in the midst of a noisy crowd on the outermost edge of the cliffs which descend steeply to the sea before Evolo. They who moved about with turbulent cries, and still more turbulent behavior, among the gnarled olive trees on the rocks where the old chapel stands, were his fellow citizens, the entire population of the little Sicilian town of Roccastretta -- men and women, children and aged people, rich and poor, even including the reverend Padre Atanasio, and the equally reverend Syndic. These two, withdrawn a few steps apart, watched the crowd's activity with a curiously sly expression of mischievous amusement.