The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1899-12-01
CHAPTER XII.
THE AMBUSCADE.

It is good to go through the air, with the
strength of brave horse under one, to
know that his strong muscles are stretching
with an enjoyment as keen as his riders
pleasure, to hear the air whistle as one
cuts through it, and to feel the blood fair
ly dance in the veins. After those weary
weeks of illness, of inaction, and of men
tai despair l had passed through, it was
as if new life was poured into me, to know
that was once more in the saddle, with
prospect, however faint, of regaining all
had lost. As the landscape on each side
of me melted into green gray streak, it
seemed to carry away with it my suffering;
as the true horse answered willingly to the
touch of my spur, forgot the past, and was
once again Ego di Savelli, with a spirit as
high as the days before the black sorrow
fell upon me. To the left of the road was
a broad stretch of springy turf, crossed by
fairly wide water channel. / could not
resist giving the beast burst over this,
and, followed by Jacopo, galloped over it
with a free rein. Both the horses took the
jump like bucks, and, carried away by the
moment, I'VE held on, until we reached the
stony and bowlder-covered incline which led
to the valley of the Greve. Here the turf
came to a sudden end, In a line such as the
edge of calm sea makes in bay, and then
began steep. descent of gravel and loose
stones, whose many colors of gray, ochre
and brown, were splashed here and there
by masses of short, thick shrubs, which
gradually increased in denseness, until they
spread before us, a sea of somber green, that
stretched to the clear blue of the Greve.
Here, on the crest of the slope, / drew
bride, thinking the horses had enough Of
it for the present, and that it would be we'll
to husband their strength. Jacopo pulled
up alongside of me and, STOPPING to pat the
neck of his mount, said:
"Excellcncy, the horses are in good con-
oition; they will carry us well to Leg
horn!" He spoke the truth, for although
they might have been m better training, as
the few ciots of yellowy white foam on the
part of the reins which had touched their
necks showed, still we should have been
content with less from new and practically
untried purchases, such as we had made,
and congratulated myself mentally on our
luck, for Barabbas himself would have had
much to learn from the horse-dealers of
Tuscany.
"By keeping at this pace, excellency," said
Jacopo, as we trotted on, I'VE shall reach
the Resa shortly before it gets quite dark,
and l submit that We stop there to feed the
horses. As your honor commanded, have
brought a meal for them, and there was
space enough in the sack for a snack for
me, which would do at pinch for two,
if your excellency would but condescend to
taste of it."
"You say well, Jacopo; but also am an
old soldier, and my saddle-bags are full. A
fasting body makes but faint heart,
whether for man or beast-on the other
bank of the Resa then, we shall call halt
There is a little light still, enough to in
crease the Oace-So onwardai0
We broke into hand gallop, keeping one
behind the other, and following the wind
ings of cattle track, for had purposely
avoided the road after receiving the in
formation l had extracted from the SEN
try at the San Frediano gate 1t was evi-
dent that the party of men, followed by
Ceci's nephew, had left Florence to carry
out some desperate design. l had been
logged all day by this man, and now he
had galloped off in disguise to join the men
who had left Florence before we had, and
amongst them was his uncle. Ceci's words
at our last interview, and the persistent
manner in which / was followed, left me
no room to doubt that / was the object
of their attention, and that it would be
necessary to keep well on the alert did
rot apprchend danger at once, but thought
that If an attack were made it would be
in the narrow valley between the low hills