Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-18
Oh GianniI GianniI,

Oh 6iannil Gianni!7
But whether he heard her piteous little cry
or not he did not turn, and Pippa sat down
under the vine leaves and sobbed as if her
heart would break.
The sun went down, the church bell rang,
the people poured into the last service, and
still Pippa sat sobbing Then she heard the
voices of the congregation as they once more
came out Of church.
"Gianni is good man." she said to her
self. "He never misses benediction The
holy service will have softened his heart;
he will forgive me- Though Tonino is going
to stay here, it will not matter, for
! shall be the one to go. Gianni and 1 will
be married at once, and we will go away in
his big carriage to Ssstri After all, We
may be very happy yet l won't put of the
wedding any more, it shall be at once. 1 am
sure that Gianni will see when he looks at
me that mean to be good now!"
Pippa had no tears left to shed; she dried
her eyes and pushed back her curly hair,
and walked down to the village.
Old Giacomo came hobbling up to her.
"Do you want to know where your two
lovers are, my beautyF he said. "Well,
we'll, you shall not bs left in ignorance.
Tonino, when he came out of church, took
his bag Of tools you know thsm0 over his
shoulder, lighted his lantern, and went of
through the tunnel on his usual inspection.
He must have got some way by this time.
"And my Giannif cried Pippa, trem-
bling.
"Gianni had an odd look on his faca Ths
evil eye has crossed him perhapa Who
knowsr
3But where Is her she faltsred-
at Is very strange" said Giacomo, "but
he also took the way Of the tunnel He
also must be some way in by this time,
and"
But Pippa waited to hear no more. A hor-
rible dread had seized upon her; a terror
cold as a hand Of ice laid upon her heart.
She uttered sL1ill little cry and sped away
toward the mountain as fast as her feet
could carry her.
"Per Baccol there will be mischief" said
one man to another. "Would it not be best
to go after them"
Il shall tell the priore," said Mariuccia,
wagging her old head as she went off in
search of the priest
In a few minutes quite a crowd had gath
cred round the mouth of the tunnel
Meanwhile Pippa ran on and reached her
destination. The opening looked fearfully
| dark and gloomy in the fading light, and
she had no lantern with her; but terror lent
| her courage: she never hesitated, but quickly
crossing herself she darted in.
1t was quite dark now. Pippa guided
herself along the walk; she was obliged to 90
more slowly. Oh, how pitch dark it was, and
how coldl She gasped for breath. Now her
hands rapidly passing along the wall en-
countered something cold and sliIny, and she
tried to fling it off, but it chung.
"A slug" she thought with shuddeE As
| she got rid Of it at last, never slackening her
steps All was deadly still-she could hear
her own painting breath. Now sort of pale
color began through the blockness, and d
warmer breath of air: she could see again.
The big tunnel opened into little gorge moi
ten feet wide She looked up through thu
rocks almost like one from the bottom Of q
well, and saw the friendly blue sky; then tax
ing courage, plunged on again into deeper
night than before.
| fippa could feel the darkness, the cold
brssthless atmosphere; she was getting into
the longest, most unbroken part OF the tpn'
| mel
She gasped for breath, her brain began tc
reel, her eyes throbted and ached with the
strain to see where nothing was visible
| Then suddenly, quite suddenly it seemed
to her, in the far distance she perceived g
little moving spark; light could be nothing
but Toninos lantern. Her heart beat almost
to suffocation, she paused for one instant t.
gain breath, then bounded On, for it seemed
to her intensely strained sense of hearing
that there was some one else ahead of her
some footsteps swiftly following the lantern
In pursuit of it.
Pippa pressed on faster and faster, and tn.
distance between them seemed TO be dimin
ishing. Would she arrive in timef
She had grown accustomed to the sleeper
now and knew mechanically when to expec
them as she ran She was getting nears'
| and nearer.
Suddenly she saw the lantern stop; ther'
was a sound..that made Pippa pause to lister
with the terror of q hunted animal A rusi
of footsteps, kind of shout, a sound Of |
dsath-s,ruggls Pipps bounded forwart
with 4 cry, the guiding Light disappeared
she heard the crash as the lantern fell, an
all was total darkness
Suddenly rang out a sound which filed tn
whole tunnel-a wild, unearthly whistle, I
distant roar approaching nearer and nearer
Pippa shrank back, crouched, pressed agains
the wall The train was coming.
She heard a shout from the fighters
Back, back! let go! the train comesf Marii
SantissimaT
@Never, neverl Go then to thy doomP
The roar increased louder and louder
with a terrific noise the train rushed past;
cold air filed the place, a sudden dense ser
,.,.I la,f
A kind Of sickening crash, as If somethin
had been crushed out Of all human recogn
tion under those awful wheels.
Then came dead, awful silence. No on
spoke, no one seemed to breathe. Tner
PippA turned, and crept back the way sh
had come, conscious Of nothing but q frsnti
desire to get back to the air, to Gods hsh
again.
Round the mouth Of the tunnel the crow
of villagers had assembled, but no one wen
in. They stood waiting uneasily, wonderin
what was happening. They had seen th
train 90 by, and kept on saying to each othe
that it must to all right.
Presently out Of the darkness crept fort
figure they hardly recognized as the bear
tiful Pippa. Her hands stretched ou
blindly before her, her eyes wide open an
unseeing her lips Gvid-
"But what is it, Pippaa Santi Apostoi
what has happsnedF
But she answered nothing; onl y pointed
the tunnel with CHASTITY looks
Anotheri The crowd separated in kim
of terror, for out of the darkness staggere
forth another panic-stricken human creatur
-Gianni, who with trembling hands wa
struggling at bis shirt collar trying to tear
open, to breathe, to get air.
Heaven help US! but what has happened
cried the people Then they made way fo
the priore, who was fastening forward, 70
lowed by old Mariuccia Gianni reeled fo
ward ss if he were drunken. An accciden
father" he gasFed-"a horrible accident, Il
wheels!-the-"