Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-05-03

peace or rest; she sought obStinately.
The dog at her feet slept. and now
and then, raising her head, howled
into the distance. Since her master
was no longer there she howled often
In this manner, as though she were
calling, as though her beast soul, in
consolidate, had also a memory which
would not be erased.
One night when Semillant had re-
commenced her wailing, the mother,
all of sudden, had an idea-the idea
OF a ferocious savage. She meditated
upon it until the morning; then rising
with the coming of the dawn, went
to the church. She prayed, Frustrated
upon the pavement, humbled before
God, beseeeching him to. aid her, to
uphold her, to give her poor, wearied
body strength to revenge her son.
Then she went home. There was in
her little yard an old, battered barrel,
which gathered the rainwater from
the caves.
She emptied it and turned II upside
down, made it fast in the ground with
heavy logs and stones; then she
chained Semillant to the barrel and
went into the house.
She walked then, continuously, in
her room, her eye always fixed on the
shores of Sardinia. He was there, the
, murderer.
The dog howled all day and all night.
In the morning the old woman
brought her water in an earthern jar,
4 but nothing else; no soup, no bread.
bn a
stretched out. In the morning her
, eyes were burning, her coat rough and
, awry, and she pulled desperately at
her chain.
Again the old woman gave her moth
! ing to eat. The beast, become wild,
| barked with hoarsened voice. The
! next night passed. Then, the next day,
Mother Savorini begged two bundles
of straw from neighbor.
She took some old clothes which her
husband used to wear and filed them
with the straw, so that human body
; was represented.
Having stuck long stick in the
ground in front of the barrel, she tied
4, to it the manikin, which seemed in this
way to be standing up. Then she made
! q head out OF old cloth.
The dog, surprised, looked at the
| man of straw and became silent,
though devoured with hunger. That
| night the woman bought at the gro
GERS two pounds of meat pudding, re-
/ turned home and lit wood fire near
| the barrel, and fried the pudding.
! Semillant, crazed, leaped and foamed
| at the mouth, her eyes fixed on the
pan, from which the smoke entered
/ her very stomach.
Then the mother made of the smok-
1 ing pudding a cravat for the man of
straw. She took great pains in arrang-
1 ing it about his neck, as though she
wished the grease to soak in. When
| she had done this she unclaimed the
| dog. With one bound the animal
| reached the throat of the manil<in, and
| with her feet on his shoulders began
to tear. She fell back with piece of
\ her prey in her nav. Then she
launched herself again burying her
| fangs in the strings around the throat
and, selling some bits of food, fell
back again, and then, maddened with
excitement, leaped again on the figure.
She carried off the entire face by great
bites, tearing the throat into rags.
| The old woman, motionless, watched
with illuminated eyes. Then she re.
chained her beast and, having fastened
it again for two days, went over the
| strange proceeding. For three months
she accustomed the animal TO this ex-
ercise, to this meal gained by savage
| teeth attack. She didn't chain the dog
now, but urged her on with gestures
| upon the manibin.
1 She taught the dog to tear it, to de-
YOUR 4, even when there was no food
1 hidden in its throat. She would then
reward the dog with fried pudding.
Whenever Semillant would see the
manillin, she would begin to tremble
| violently, then turn her eyes to her
mistress. The woman would scream
va" in piercing voice, raising her
finger.
When she judged the time come,
| Mother Savorini went one Sunday to
communion and confession. Then,
having dressed in mems clothes, like
those of poor old man, she was rowed
| by Sandman fisherman across the
| strait.
She carried a large piece of meat
| pudding in linen sack. Semillant had
tasted for two days. Every minute the
old woman made the dog smell the
1 food.
They entered Longosardo. The
Corsican woman walked with linn
She went to baker shop and asked to
be pointed out the way to the house
OF Nicolas Ravolati. He had resumed
his old trade-that of carpenter. He
worked alone at the back of his shop.
The old woman opened the door and
| called: HE, Nicolas"
1 He turned; then letting go of her
dog, she cried: "Va, va, devour, devour
| him"
The maddened animal bounded for
ward and seized him by the throat.
The man opened his arms, closed upon
her, and rolled to the ground. For sew
II