Extract:Behind the mountain covered with gardens and villas, along whose slope extended the city, the pale winter sun was sinking, enveloping it in a cloud of golden haze. Along the great wharves, crossed here and there by Venetian bridges, rose the piercing dis- cordant symphony of commercial activity, the shriek- ing of the camions, the heavy rumble of the big-bellied casks, the shouts of the longshoremen, the monotonous cry of "Oh, oh, isa I" from the sailors stirring about the decks of the ships anchored in a row before the buildings; and, looking through an entangled forest of ratlines and cables, sails and flags, to another pier beyond, the eye could make out a battalion returning from its training camp, marching along in the white uniform and little red cap of the mechanic, diminished by the distance into the semblance of pretty little sol- diers from a toy bazaar.
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