The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-18

out splendid soldier; 90 Garibaldi
 gave him high command in the army
 and relied upon him to carry through
 every sort of daring enterprise. No
 undertaking was ever too desperate fol
 Bellamonte, and his men would follow
 him anywhere. His gay and daunt-
 less courage sustained them in emer.
 gencies, and brought them by sheer
 pluck out of many pass that would
 have seemed absolutely hopeless to
 any one else.
 "His wife had a terrible time, con-
 tinually moving about the country
 after him with the boy; continually
 forced to fly from one place to an-
 other before the advance of her own
 countrymen never knowing when
 she parted from her husband whether
 she would ever see him again. Her
 family and friends heaped the bitter
 est reproaches upon her for having, sa
 they supposed, turned traitor to her
 country, and brought Luigi back to
 fight against them. I knew that l
 had been the means of bringing about
 all her sufferings; and though I was
 generally sure of having done right in
 the main, still I can tell you, Hol-
 brook, it was pretty hard work to
 meet that unhappy woman, with the
 consciousness that I was the cause of
 her misery, and that she knew it even
 better than I. Yet she never addressed 8 word of reproach to me. I often wished that she would. She never spoke to me at all if she could help it i; and sometimes, when I watched her growing thinner and paler, an awful doubt seized me as to whether I was not, in reality, the blackest villain on earth. There was look in her eyes, when she did turn them upon me, that made me feel uncommonly like it. I did all could to help her but if ever she found out that any arrangement for her comfort or safety were my do- ings, she would reject them at once or if it was necessary for the child's sake, took any service from me as if it would have choked her. Bellamonte in vain tried to persuade his wife to take the boy with her, and wait for safety on the other side of the Swiss frontier, but no power on earth could induce her to leave him, though she was, of course, continually separated from him by the chances of the cam paign. She clung to him as closely as she could, and followed him as closely as Assunta did the general.
 This went on for nearly four years, and all that time I was struggling in vain to join the army. My one desire was tc fight, but, greatly to my dis appointment, the chiefs decided that I was more useful to them in other ca- pacities-to take messages between them, for instance, when they were in hi1ing, and to be centre of commu- nication generally. Being an English man, and apparently unattached to either party, 1 was able to move about tolerably freely, and escaped suspicion for an incredible time, to my surprise for, as you know, diplomatic craft and subtlety are not much in my line. I hated the hole-and- corner business: Il longed to go in and give some hard blows for the cause but you can no more help doing what Mazzini bids you than you can help putting one foot before the other when you walk. They said all my blundering, ridicu- lous ways were really most useful to them; they misled wiseacres on the other side into believing me harm less British simpleton.
 "But in the end, to my great de- light, the enemy got on the right scent. l was no use as a messenger any more, and the long desired com mission for Garibaldi's army at last arrived.
 "We were all at Milan together just then. It was held by the Austrians, but negotiations were on foot and we believed that we were in no danger. Besides, we were we'll disguised and in hiding with those whom we could trust. had secured comfortable and safe quarters tor the Bellamontes without the contessa knowing that she was at all indebted to me in the matter. I was in tremendous spirits, and just on the point of setting out to make my way to the army, when a message arrived purporting to come from one of the chiefs, who did not know l had got my commission, di- recting me to give verbal message, on the second day from that time, to some one whom I was to meet at spot named, about mile from the town.
 "I was thrown into raging perplex- ity. My orders were to join the regi- ment at once. Any delay seemed to me like dashing the cup from my lips in tho moment of attainment. could not endure the hindrance, and the message seemed to be one of quite sec- ondary importance. Bellamonte came to my help and undertook to carry the communication. could not see