Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1899-05-10

! masters of the situation.
Are you hurt, excelcncy?" called out
Jacopo.
mot in the least How are your
"Nothing but scratch, excellency, which
I received from his reverence, who, with
all his mon1ish cowl, yields good weapon"
well, jump down and let us see who our
friends are, but first let US look at your
| wound"
ut is really nothing, as l said, signore,"
| and Jacopo sprang lightly to earth. l did
not, however, listen to him, and taking
from hin, his flint and steel, lighted piece
J of dry wood, which converted into torch.
With the aid of this and the moonlight,
examined Jacopo's wound, which after
all was but slight, and had just bandaged
it up with my kerchief, when l became
| aware that the man whom Jacopo had rid
den over had risen on his hands and
| knees and was crawling off in the brush
wood.
'Steady, friend," l said, and running up
to him, gave him a prick with my sword as
| a hint to stop. He made little cutlery,
| but had the good sense to take the hint,
and casting the light of the torch on his
face l recognized my old acquaintance, the
| ancient Brico.
$50, signore," said, II have again to
| be thankful to you
Jacopo, too, came up and recognized the
| man at glance.
"Cappita!" he burst out, "but it is the
| ancient Brico! Shall beat his brains out,
excellency?"
mercy, most noble cavalier exclaimed
| Brico, Il yield me to ransom"
Ransom forsooth" called out Jacopo,
"s,1ch ransom "a moose will give vou Pre-
pare TO die"
"Bc quiet, Jacopo," said, ''the ancient
has yielded to ransom, and we will leave
| him to discuss the terms with the moon.
Fetch me the bride from my poor horse
yonder, and bind this knave firmly
jacopo needed no second bidding, and in
five minutes the ancient, securely bound,
| was sitting like trussed fowl in the mid
die of the road, alternately cursng and
weeping.
perhaps, excellency, we had better look
| at the other" and Jacopo pointed to the
| man whom he had shot, who lay on his
face. "Perchance," he added, che, too,
might turn out an old acquaintance"
We did so, and as we bent over him saw
it was Bernardo Ceci gone to his last &C.
count. He was shot through the heart, and
lay quite dead, with frown on his forehead,
and his teeth clenched in the death agony
looked at him in sad silence, which ia
copo broke.
Il never knew a cross-marked bullet to
fail, excellency. He is stone dead.'
MAY he rest in peace" answered; che
was Il brave man, although my enemy"
HE is still enough now, your Worship
and see! There is his horse grazing quietly.
1t will do excellently to replace the lost
one"
He ran forward and secured the animal,
whilst l had final look at my dead beast.
His neck was broken, and there was an
end of him. Whilst Jacopo at my request
was changing the saddles, stirred up the
ancient, who had lapsed into silence, and
begged the favor of his informing me to
whom was indebted for the excitement Of
the night. Brico at first would not answer,
but an inch Of steel removed his sulkiness,
and he told me all that believe he knew.
which was to the effect that he and some
others had been hired by great Floren-
tine called Strozzi, to stop me at all baz-
ards on my journey to Rome, and that the
party was commanded by Ceci, who was to
pay them 200 crowns for their trouble. More
he evidently did not know, and, disregard
ing all his entreaties to loosen him, we rode
of, wishing him good night. Neverthe-
less am afraid he suffered considerable dis
comfort.
|"That rascal monk" said Jacopo, as we
logged along, "has gone on ahead of us. and
tomorrow, perhaps, will rouse the coun-
try in advance of us"
'Never fear, Jacopo," answered, che is
no monk, as I we'll know, and his only
chance was to escape as he did. He will
bark back soon enough to Florence. Such
hawks as he do not fly far from their
eyrics."
And in this proved to be right, and the
library scribe was never seen by Inc again.
So we kept to our way, deciding to rest
by day on the banks of the Evola, to which
we came in the early morning. Here we
concealed our horses in the forest which
fringed the banks, and the tireless Jacopo,
leaving me to watch the cattle, proceeded
on foot to small hamlet he knew of, re-
turning in about an hour with the materials
for substantial meal, and small skin of
wine.
In this manner we continued our jour-
ney, hating by day and travelling by night,
and finally reached Leghorn in safety. Here
we took passage in ship bound for Rome;
but were compelled to wait two days in
Leghorn, as the master was not ready to
sail at once. At last, all things being ar
ranged, we got our horses and ourselves
aboard, and put to sea with fair wind.
The master of the ship had sailed with
AIesser Columbus to the new world, and
lost no time in giving us the history of his
adventures, which were in truth marvellous
beyond Imagination. I listened with a
smooth face, and the good man no doubt
thought that believed his stories. In this,
however, he was mistaken, nevertheless
they were diverting in the extreme. Jacopo
was overcome by the sickness of the sea,
and flung himself down in corner on the
deck of the ship from which spot nothing
would induce him to move. At every lurch
he threw out prayer which ended in
groan, and SO great was his distress that,
as he afterwards stated, he would have sold
his soul to Satan for paul, if only to OBJ
tain an hours relief. AS for me, was we'll,
having had some experience of the ocean be-
fore, when employed by the most serene
republic for service against the Turk, and
found contentment in the masters stories,
and in pacing up and down watching such
things as came under my view. had plenty
Of opportunity for reflection on the voy-