As chance would have it, it turned out to be the very boat which had brought me down to Cattaro; and no sooner did the captain spy me out on deck than he shouted that the quarantine had been declared at Corfu against all vessels coming from Trieste, and that if I went on I should be detained to perform fourteen days of quarantine in the Lazzaretto, instead of being allowed to continue my journey on to Constantinople. I asked him to come over, which he did at once, and having held a consultation with the other captain, who entirely agreed with him that I should most certainly be detained a fortnight at Corfu, and be compelled to perform my quarantine in the Lazzaretto, I determined on returning to Trieste. Fourteen days in a Lazzaretto anywhere would be a severe ordeal, but fourteen days of such an imprisonment during the dog-days at Corfu could not possibly have been faced; it would not only have been a severe trial of patience in every shape and form, but might have been conducive to serious illness.
There was no time to be lost, so my luggage was at once put into the captain's boat, and in a few minutes I again found myself on board the old steamer, where Giovanni, the steward, greeted me as if I had been an old friend.
At sunset we steamed away northward from Castel Durazzo. The captain was delighted to see me again, and Giovanni was most affable, doing his utmost to promote my happiness. But like Rachel of old I would not be comforted, all my plans were thoroughly upset; I could not bring myself to make fresh arrangements. I was turning my back on my beloved South and I was retracing my steps—both things I utterly detested. But _non ci era rimedio_, the quarantine and the Lazzaretto I could not face, so there was nothing else to do but resign oneself to the fates.
The next morning we came abreast of Budua, but I did not land as I did not feel well. I screwed up my courage, however, and attempted a little sketch of its castle and harbour, with its blue sea and its background of rocky mountains. After a little, and just as we were leaving the place, I felt worse, so I took some medicine and went to lie down. In two hours more I was in high fever, with a racking pain in my head and back, and I felt my mind almost wandering. We reached the Bocche that evening, but the beauties of the Fjord were lost to me—I lay in my cabin prostrated. Giovanni came instantly to see me, trying to comfort me by telling me I had only caught "_la febbre_," and that I should send for the doctor at Cattaro to get myself bled, and take quinine, when I should be all right. I think that the idea of Giovanni's bringing a doctor and having me bled, _nolens volens_, roused me up. I made myself some tea, and just as we reached Cattaro I felt much better—the fever had abated, and now, said I, is the time to take the quinine.