Litchfield enquirer., 1880-11-11

GOODNESS of the. mountain air, the freshness
brought by the rain and storm, all gave zest to
oCr repasts but when the wit had exhausted
itself, aud the last flask we could venture to
touch was thrown aside, It was with uncertain
and somewhat puzzled looks that we began to
examine the state of the weather There
seemed no prospect of any Improvement for
the better. We began to shiver uncomforta-
bly, in our damp clothes and the rain began to
penetrate into our shed. To add to our COM
fort, at this moment two very grim goatherds
made their appearance with their hardy focks,
and sat down beside us, dissatisfied and growl-
ing at finding so much of their shelter occu.
Pied "Je suis charme, ," said Mis- Osborne as
one of them passed so close as TO wet her skirt
with the dripping jacket on his shoulder, land
only want a, milk white lamb to make these
pass for satyrs." s.ot H syas
| Domenic0a the guide, was a son of our land
lord. and agentle pleasant youth, of whom no
evil could besaid except that he had no will
of his own. coke had seemed uneasy at our en-
tering the she'd uneasy during our heightened
lrepass, oncelo Or twice he hadproposed that we
should aeayes and now he took the opportunity
OF saying tonne aside * Pardon, signor, stu
/ pidezza that / am not to have spoken to you
sooner On the subject, but it will be impossible
for us to get home today with this accursed
rain. Two hours Of it swell the mountain tor
4 rents that cross our path so much that any
horses would be swept away by them; and the
contadini, in such weather, can only commu-
nicate with the country below by trees which
have been felled over the streams 3 at certain
points, on which they creep across" ,syt,I., /.
"Diavolo! !" exclaimed, land, in the name
OF the Virgin, why have. you kept back that
intelligence till now? We should perish of
cold If we stayed here all night; and pre-
sumo the villages are not quite so safe as we
could wish" So n.t.-...-.
81 did say we should 60 on" replied DOM
enico "but the rain was so great, we all re-
quired a glass of wine, and then the wine
made me forget about it. Oh signor, che c'e
da fare? These contadini here are all half
brigands, and they think Milford Inglesi are all
made of gold. If we get into their hands
there is no saying what may happen. Such
a thing was never, heard of before as party
from the Bagni staying in one of the villages
| of the mountains" r-.-.
Here the lad began weeping and l commu-
| nicated to Benton, who now joined U.s. what
I had just heard. Had we been alone, and
armed, we should have enjoyed the prospect
before us: but as 1t was he looked very grave,
and said: "Do you know, spoke about this
very subject to one of the equerries of the
Grand Duke in connection with your practice
| OF sometimes sleeping in the mountain villages.
| and he said it was extremely unsafe The
Government, it seems, exercises almost no
| jurisdiction over the people there. l pointed
out to him that excursions were made every
day with safety; but he explained, that
| though the mountaineers are too much bene-
flied by the Summer visitors to the Baths to
interfere with these day excursions, the temp
| tation would probably be too much in case of
a supposed wealthy stranger staying with them
! at night. The illustration he used was that of
partridge happening to come down the Chin
/ | no or,H nf
into the cot, though it might pass me twenty
times uncared for on the open road. Have
| you any arms9 Ihave none" e...r
| only small small clasp bowie" replied,
''but let us first try the streams" .tt5... =;
| Leaving the surly goatherds, and riding on
| in the rain, We soon found that Domenicos
statement was fully borne out. There were
streams where there had been no streams be-
| fore and after going with some difficulty
about three miles, we were brought to dead
| stand by foaming torrent, which it was evi.
! dent we could not cross At the time of
which write, fastyonng ladies were only in
| process of being developed among our fair
| country women, though the French Tonne had
set them the example, Miss Osborne had
| decided prociVity in that way, greatly to the
horror OF her excellent mother and the pros,
pect Of spending night in mountain village,
so far from being unpleasant, filed her With
| the greatest glee. -s.s5,... ...g -
1--WE must" she said, gaily, "get some
peasant to take a note to mamma, who would
be half dead by morning if she did not hear
from us and then we shall have such night
of it before blazing wood fire in some ruined
old inn, with a brigand-looking landlord, who
will terrify US by coming in with long knife
at midnight to cut--some f1itches of bacon
We can't be far just. now from that curious
tumble-down old village we noticed in the
valley below, gathered on the top of rock,
with white houses, green shutters, no tiles,
and the most romantic appearance in gener.
al" .y4 ens ->D.......-
"Hely Mother! the Borgo di Milaggio ?" ex-
claimed Domenico, whose mother was an
Englishwoman and who understood sufficient
of what had been said to know what place was
referred to. sit is the worst place we, could
choose, for it has such a bad character that
even the neighboring peasants avoid it. It is
also on the mule track to Modena through the
hills, and the Inn there is frequented by mule
teers, set of ruffians econtrabanderi, and ban
ditti" .o.
.:Contrabanderi or nnoot,"1 said ID Benton
aside. this is just the place for US. a revolu-
ZIONIST in, Leghorn gave me message to a
friend OF his who is in hiding in Milaggio, and
| also signal and a password, which will be
likely to set us all right with the land
lord", -: 'A'~l-. Il T'I
| So down we went to the Borgo, which was
really as curious an old place as one could
well find in weeksride among the Apennines
The inn, which had no sign, but to which
we were directed BY an extremely astonished
old woman, had evidently in former times
been the house, palace, or castle Of some
| territorial magnate; for it had some of the
characteristics of all three such buildings. A
bIoken archway brought US into a courtyard
where q number of mules were Uttered under
| rude protection of beams, and turf. From
| one side 81 this courtyard there opened large
hall or kitchen, in which all the, Looking and
eating of the inn appeared to- be DONE. and
| where there were, besides the usual inmates,
about dozen muleteers. wild enough looking
| fellows, drinking wine aud singing songs. The
kitchen had aroom above Id, = and one on each
| side; bqtthe other habitable rooms of the
| house were some distance of, and had 70 be
| reached by passing through long piece of
open ground, half vineyard, half garden. ~
| We did not ourselves enter at first, but sent
| DOmenico in to recehnoitre, and to bring out
the landiady or landlord. He came back with
| a thick-set sinister looking man, who gave US
| an unsatisfactory welcpme, and handsome
country girl wearing wooden SHOES, and thick
/ veil thrown back over her shoulders, who ex-
pressed establishment and pleasure at finding
| a lady in our party. It was only after con
ootN uCioui bhns IuS hOcb oS .SuppdSCu
| him to be, confessed that he had q large
| room, with a smaller chamber, beyond the
garden, both, of which we might have to our
/ Solves AT first he declared he had no place
1 to receive US in except the Kitchen; but the
i girl mentioned the unoccupied rooms, and,
with some difficulty, prevailed onhim to take
/ US to them .ae'sN-1E
"Put on my veil, signorina, as we pass
i through the court" she said, land stoop like
/ q n n hat rms oil
/ fellows inside you are NV grand aunt"
The room which we came to might once
have been occupied by noble, lords and ladies
4 gay but where the plaster was not broken,
i it was beginning 1toernmble;z sor was covered
i with mould; the easements were nearly inno-
cent of glass; SLACK eobwebs adorned The cor
pers Of the ceiling, and thick DUST as Of a