The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1872-03-21

ensue If we gave any further encourage
ment TO the old gentleman's wrath,
Archie and | beat a precipitate retreat,
but not before We had received the most
peremptory instructions from Sir John
or no account to make any excursions in
the neighborhood of Naples, land don't
be taken in with the lying manifestoes of
the government that the roads are safe,
and -the-way guarded by troops, he said;
Its my opinion that they are all in
league together, and the brigands no
worse than their employers.
What's your opinion of the brigands
now, Archie?' [ said. as we turned our
backs on the Legation, and strolled along
the Chiaja on the way to our hotel.
THAT we won't make their acquaint-
ance, if we can help it. Frank, replied
my cousin; ''but, hang it, I'm going to
be deferred from seeing the sights about
Naples by fear of these rascals. We
won't put ourselves in their way, but if
they seek US out we II give them warm
reception
So we spent fortnight in Naples !;
visited Herculaneum and Pompeii unmo-
Tested; made the assent of Vesuvius; de-
voted three hours of every day to the
matchless Museum and at last decided
to make an expedition to Salerno, in Or
der that Archie might add the ancient
ruins Of Paestum to his collection Of
sketches. Meanwhile my yacht had been
riding at anchor in the deep crescent OF
the bay, floating witness TO the robbers
who, as [ afterwards found, looked
| down upon it from their mountain fast
ness-of the wealth and position Of its
owners.
1t was morning that for brilliancy
and transparency of atmosphere would
be inconceivable in any other country bnt
Italy that we started from Salerno with
two guides and a position, en- route fol-
Postum. We found the road we'll guard
ed by detachments of troops stationed al
regular intervals, and Archie rather
grumbled at the prosaic sense Of security
which their presence inspired.
The Country which we passed through
during our three or four hours drive
| seemed only vast stretch of sterility ano
barrenness our eyes absolutely ached
with its uglihess, and Archie was pro
nouncing the whole expedition ''con
founded SELL and seriously proposing
that we should 90 back there and then
when three stately temples seemed to rise
in the distance, each one increasing il
beauty and grandeur as we drew near
There they stood, as they had stood fol
centuries before Christ was born into the
world-temples of marvellous beauty in
waste Of barrenness and desolation. A
temple in the midst of western prairie
could hardly have seemed more out O
| place.
| We wandered among the ruins fol
hours, and at last, as Archie was putting
the finishing touches to his sketch of the
| great temple Of Neptune, I stood upor
its high altar, with the blue waters Of
| the Mediterranean on one side, and the
| barren desert, stretching far away into
the black mountains of Calabria, on the
other, and fell to wondering what man
ner Of men they had been who had rails
ed this wonderful fabric, which had re.
manned for ages after all trace and mem
DRY of its builders had been bIotted out
from the earth.
1t was hard to tear ourselves away, and
it was only the repeated "Andiamo, Sig
nori,' Of the guides, and their evident
anxiety to get back to Salerno, which
prevented our remaining until after sun
set.
"Now for the brigands |" exclaimed
Archie. as he iumpted into the carriage
after me; ''if we escape them now, all
chance of making heroes of ourselves
will be over, Frank, for to-morrow-Deo
Volente-we shall be over the seas and
far away
| made no answer, for very unpleas-
ant misgiging of approaching danger had
seized me, as I observed that all the
troops, who had been stationed on that
very road a few hours before, had now
disappeared.
In reply to my question as to why this
was SO, the guide SAID: "They have
been drawn of, Signor. to allow Giar-
dullo's band to communicate with the
authorities Cor the release of two Signori
lnglesl who were taken week ago."
Then we shall be quite unprotected
on our journey back" 1 said.
"Signor 81, replied the man, in a
tone of such profound dependency that
Archie laughed aloud as be cooked his
pistol and threw himself back in the car
riage.
Never mind, Frank if they come
we'll die game" he said: "a brace of
Scotchmen ought to be more than a
match for dozen Italian DEVILS
L made no reply, FOR, at that moment
my eyes were attracted by several dark
objects in the distance, which, In the
gathering twilight, looked as much like
trees as men. In my heart hoped that
they were trees. but asst flashed across
me that | had seen no trees when pass
ed over that road few hours before, I
knew that they were men, They rose UP
like demons out of the bare earth as we
approached, until it seemed to me that