The Winslow mail., 1900-05-03

|
| Every well"
| "Then there is no time to lose. Jacopot
| "Excellency."
| "Pick out a man, and he, you, the lackey
and myself, will go on ahead. The rest car
follow. l have given all other orders to the
sgnor, st. Armande."
"There is Bande Mere, your worship"
81 am ready, cavalere," and tall, thin
gray-mustached trooper saluted as he spoke
He looked the man wanted. My lackey
was a stout horseman, and at pinch might
hold a sword as we'll as he held my valise
| So, shaking hands with St. Armande,
put spurs to Castor, and we dashed off
Turning the corner of belt of forest land
looked back and waved my hand in fur
| ther adieu to the cheEalier. l caught the
futter of the white handkerchief the young
| dandy carried, as he loosed it to the air in
reply to my salute, and the next moment the
| trees hid them from view.
We rode hard now, Castor going almost
as freely as when we started. Indeed,
would have far outpaced the others, if did
not let him feel the bit once, and the noble
beast, as if knowing his duty, required nc
| further warning not to outstrip his compan
ions.
Gong as we were now Perugia was but 6
| few hours away; but the pace was too great
| to last long, and from Todi to Perugia there
were nine leagues and trihe over of ar
ascending road. Castor might do it, the
others | was sure would not. In order
| therefore, to rest the horses, as well as t.
avoid question, 1 resolved that we should
| dine at Rosaro, and after an hour or so Of
rest press forwards, passing by Todi, anc
| travelling all night, so as to reach Perugis
in the morning. If we went faster, we would
only reach at night, and so late as to find
entrance into the town impossible.
We clattered past the villages of Sar
Gemini and Castel Todino, and about moor
drew up our now somewhat blown beasts
at the gates of the "Man-at-Arms," the only
inn in the village.
1t was poor place I saw at glance, and
as we pulled up, crowd of yokels in holiday
attire gathered around us. The inn seemed
| full, too, for the yard swarmed with people
and half-score heads of contadini were al
| each window, staring at us open-eyed.
As / took this in, the landlord came run
ming out, cap in hand and full of apologies
"Ohime! But my house is full to the gar
rets, signore, and it is nothing can do fol
| you to-day. Tomorrow is the feast of St
| Mary of the Consolation, and all the coun
try is going to Todi-"
II do not want to stay. We merely halt
here to bait our horses and to dine. Car
you manage that?'
eff that is all, excellency, yes, oh, yes
| The beasts, they can rest anywhere, anC
there is polenta and room for your excel
lency's followers; but for yourself, signore,
and ! , shook his head mournfully.
"What is the difficulty?' And I dis
mounted, my men following suit.
"But this, signore. There is but one
room in the house you could use, and that is
occupied by two gentlemen of the army
Violent men, signore, who will not allow
anyone to share it. Lasso me! But not 6
paul have they paid me as yeti"
"Give them my compliments, and say that
the Cavaliere Donati begs to be allowed 6
corner of their table for his dinner"
"Alas, signore! 1t is useless. They have
been here two days"
''Then it is time they made room for other
travellers. Give my message, landlord, anc
say am following"
Mine host trotted off with considerable
misgivings expressed in his face, and fol
lowed by my lackey, bearing my valise,
went after him at a slower pace.
When l reached the room, which could
hardly be missed, seeing it was the only one
in the house that had any pretense of ap
pearance, found the door open, and heard
half-drunken voice shouting:
"Begone, dog Blood of king! But are
two gentlemen to be disturbed because a
signore with a long name wants to dine!
Skull of st. Jerome! Did you ever hear the
| like of this? Cospetto! Tell him to &c
hang, or I'll spit him like lark"
| heard enough to recognize the voice.
and, turning to the lackey, said
''Send Jacopo here at once with stout
cudgel-run."
The man went off on the double, and 1 re-
mained without the door listening with
amusement to the ancient Bricos buster
| for it was he, and he was having all the talk
his companion, whoever he was, now and
| then giving a grunt of assent.
'Mtre and cowl! He'll and sulphur! VIII
you begone, fool, or shall slit your wind
pipe?" and heard him beat the table with
his fist. "Out, rascal" he roared, "and
bring in another skin of chianti"
Out came the wretched innkeeper, and
seeing me at the door, began to urge me tC
go; but at this moment Jacopo came run
ming up with a stout stick in his hand, and
pushing the landlord on one side, stepped
into the room, followed by Jacopo
Brico's friend, who was quite drunk as il
seemed, had fallen asleep whilst he was talk
| ing, and lay with his head between his arms
half on the table, half on his chair. The an
cient was seated with an empty skin before
| him, and rose in wrath as entered.
"What the" he began in a wine-blowr
voice, and then his face paled a little as he
| saw me.
| I did not waste words. "Cudgel me thi;
fellow out, Jacopo," I said, and Jacopo at
tended to the task as if he loved it. The an
cent attempted to draw his sword, but il
was useless, and a minute or two later he
was flung out into the courtyard, beaten
to a jelly and bowling for mercy. He la,
where he was flung, too bruised to move.
His friend slept through it all; but as my
lackey lifted up his head in an attempt tc
eject him, L recognized Piero Luigi, and fel
that some more stringent action than | haC
taken with Brico should be adopted here.
''This man is thief" | said to the land
lord, "and his friend little better"
"Then to the stocks they go; and now,
almost screamed the host, mot paul have
they paid me, signore, l swear this the ban
dts. Hi Giuseppe! Giovanni"
A couple of stout knaves came running in
and the innkeeper, trembling with anger
and fear combined, yelled out:
"Bind this brigand and his companion Sc
curely, keep them in the stables, and to
morrow we will hale them before the DO
desta."
L enjoyed my dinner comfortably, and or
| going out to see after the horses was met by
Bande Mere, who took me aside to where
in a corner of the stables, two men were w
ing secure ely bound One was Luigi, still
happily drunk. The other was the ancient
whose bones must have ached sorely, for he