The two engines on the train (which
was a very long one) seemed about to steam away--but, behold, _con
grande stupore di tutti_, the waggons moved not at all! Presently a
third engine was put on, but still all efforts to start the train
proved useless. Alone of the people who viewed this inexplicable
event, the friar showed no astonishment; he remarked calmly, that so
long as he was refused permission to travel by it, the train would
not stir. At length _un ricco signore_ found a way out of the
difficulty by purchasing the friar a third-class ticket; with a
grave reproof to the station-master, the friar took his seat, and
the train went its way.
But the matter, of course, did not end here. Indignant and amazed,
and wishing to be revenged upon that _frataccio_, the station-master
telegraphed to Loreto, that in a certain carriage of a certain train
was travelling a friar, whom it behoved the authorities to arrest
for having hindered the departure of the said train for fifteen
minutes, and also for the offense of mendicancy within a railway
station.
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