The Winslow mail., 1900-05-03

one or two of the horses showed signs of
fatigue. Jacopo rode up beside me.
By your leave, excellency! We have the
road by Soratte to cross soon, and in the
coming darkness may possibly lose our way.
would suggest, therefore, that we halt here
until dawn. 1t will rest the horses, and
with the light we could press on"
every WELL Hark! Is not that the sound
of water?"
"Yes, your worship"
"Then we will stop there"
A few yards beyond we came to a ruined
temple, near which fountain was bubbling.
Here ] gave the order to halt, and in less
time than take to write this the troopers
had sprung to earth, the saddle-girths were
loosened and all the preparations for two
hours halt begun.
| shared a little wine with st. Armande
and the able, and'the former, rolling him
self up in his cloak, leaned his back against
a fallen pillar, and seemed to drop off at
once into sleep.
The able followed his example, but my
mind was too impatient for rest, and
walked up and down, watching the ending
of the moon, until it finally sank out of
sight, and darkness fell upon US.
Dark as it was around me, my mind was
in still greater darkness, for was unable
to think of any plan by which l could gain
access to Angola, after reaching Perugla.
Time. too. was short; but that did not mat
ter for l was prepared to let the affair of
the ducats slide, rather than lose any chance
of rescuing her.
A straw yet remained. Luck might be on
my side, and with luck and a strong heart
one might do anything. There was moth
ing for it but to content myself for the pres
ent with this Until / reached Perugia !
could develop no plan. So / paced up and
down with an unsettled mind, and finally,
seating myself on a stone, awaited the morn
ing, alternately nodding and awakening
with start.
At last The east began to whiten, and,
getting up stiffly, touched Jacopo with the
end of my sword. He jumped with an ex-
clamation, and, recognizing me, began to
apologize. This cut short, and bade him
arouse the men.
'This instant, your worship. Cospetto!
To think l should have oversight myself!
Ho, sluggards! Buffaloes! Awake! Think
you that you are going to snore here all
night? and he began to stir the men up.
They rose willingly enough, with tremen-
dous yawnings and stretching of arms, and
we were soon on the march again, through
the increasing daylight.
The coming day seemed to warm the hearts
of the men, and one of them broke into
song, the chorus being taken up by the 9TH
ers, we logged along. When this had
lasted some little time, gave Castor's reins
a shake, and off we went at a smart gallop.
Shortly after passing San Oreste the road
led along the side of Soratte, and, the morn
ing being young, besides very bright and
clear, we had glorious view. To the left
lay Civita Castelana, the walls of the new
citadel standing high above the town, which
lay in the middle of network of deep
ravines; to the right and behind us the Sa-
bine Hills extended in long, airy lines, and
the wooded heights of Pellachio and San
Gennaro, where, close to Palembara, was
an old castle of our house, rose to the south
east. Above us was the monastery of st.
Silvestre, and Soratte itself reached towards
where Borghetto stood, on bend of the IL
Der, in series of descending peaks. Cool
puffs of air caught US, and freshened the
horses as well as our hearts, and it was a
CHEEKY party that finally reached the Ponte