But the name of the craft herself had been given in a way to puzzle all the proficients in Saxon English that Porto Ferrajo could produce.

It had been distinctly enough pronounced by some one on board, and, at the request of the quarantine department, had been three times slowly repeated, very much after the following form; viz.: "_Come chiamate il vostro bastimento ?_" "The Wing-and-Wing." "_Come!_" "The Wing-and-Wing." A long pause, during which the officials put their heads together, first to compare the sounds of each with those of his companions' ears, and then to inquire of one who professed to understand English, but whose knowledge was such as is generally met with in a linguist of a little-frequented port, the meaning of the term.
"Ving-y-ving!" growled this functionary, not a little puzzled "what ze devil sort of name is zat! Ask zem again." "_Come si chiama la vostra barca, Signori Inglesi ?_" repeated he who hailed.
"_Diable!_" growled one back, in French; "she is called ze Wing-and-Wing--'Ala e Ala,'" giving a very literal translation of the name, in Italian.
'"_Ala e ala!_" repeated they of the quarantine, first looking at each other in surprise, and then laughing, though in a perplexed and doubtful manner; "Ving-y-Ving!" This passed just as the lugger anchored and the crowd had begun to disperse.

It caused some merriment, and it was soon spread in the little town that a craft had just arrived from Inghilterra, whose name, in the dialect of that island, was "Ving-y-Ving," which meant "_Ala e ala_" in Italian, a cognomen that struck the listeners as sufficiently absurd.

In confirmation of the fact, however, the lugger hoisted a small square flag at the end of her main-yard, on which were painted, or wrought, two large wings, as they are sometimes delineated in heraldry, with the beak of a galley between them; giving the whole conceit something very like the appearance that the human imagination has assigned to those heavenly beings, cherubs.

This emblem seemed to satisfy the minds of the observers, who were too much accustomed to the images of art, not to obtain some tolerably distinct notions, in the end, of what "_Ala e ala_" meant.
But 'Maso, as has been said, remained after the rest had departed to their homes and their suppers, as did Ghita.