The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-03-05

followed suit. In another moment he had
fired his carbine into the brigand's horse,
and down they both came by the run.
We Instantly refined up. for l saw there
manning brigand. and the trooper was
in the act OF cutting down the man as
he struggled to his feet, when to my hor-
rer recognized the lovely features Of
Valeria.
''Stay. man. l shouted. throwing my
self from my horse; Its a woman! touch
her if you dare.' and then seeing the
ed, Brave soldiers, such as you have
proved yourself to be. do not kill women:
though yonr traducers say You do. do not
give them cause to speak truth. l will
be responsible for this womans safety.
Here, to make it sure, you had better
strap us together" l piqued myself ex-
ceedingly on this, happy inspiration.
whereby l secured an arm-in-arm walk.
of a peculiar kind. it is true. with Vale
ria. and indeed my readiness to sacri-
fee myself seemed rather to astonish
the soldier. who hesitated. However. his
comrade. whose horse had been shot in
the ditch, now came up. and seconded my
proposal, as / offered him a mount on
mine.
dear Valeria:s l whispered. giving her
a sort of affectienate nudge: the posi-
ton of our arms prevented my squeezing
hers, as l could have wished. and the
two troopers kept behind us, watching
us, l thought. stEpicious1y.
at is quite impossible now-don't at
tempt it." she answered: perhaps there
may be an opportunity later"
Was that Croppo who got away"
asked. ~
YES. He could not get his cowardly
men to stand on that HILL
What bother those, men are behind,
dearesti Let me pretend to scratch my
nose with this hand that is tied to yours,
which / can thus bring to my lips"
1 accomplished this manuver rather
neatly, but parties now came struggling
in from other directions. and l was
obliged to give up whispering and become
circumspect. They all seemed rather
astonished AZ our. group. and the Captain
laughed heartily as he rode up and called
out, who have you got tied to You
there caro- mio?"
"Croppo's wife. I had her tied to me
for fear she should escape; besides she
is not bad-looking."
'What price, he exclaimed. Eve
have made a tolerable haul this time-20
prisoners in all-among them the priest
of the band. Our Colonel has just ar
rived. so l am in luck-he will be delight
ed. See. the prisoners are being brought
up to him now: but you had better re-
mount and present yours in less singu-
lar fashion,
When We reached the Colonel we
found him examining the priest. His
breviary contained various interesting
notes, written on some of the fy-leaves.
For instance: 81. 80
Administered extreme JUNCTION to
A.. shot by Croppo's orders; my
share, 10 scudi. .,5..;..,4.-.
Ditto, ditto. to R, hung by Crop
pos order; my share, two scudi.
Ditto. ditto. to S.. roasted by
Croppo's order. to make him name an
agent to bring his ransom: overdone by
mistake, and died-so got nothing.
Ditto. ditto. to P executed by
the knife by Croppo's order, for disobe
dicnce. 80
an. and T.. and D..
three new members, joined today: confessed
them.f and received the usual fees
He was a dark, beetle-browed-lOokin
rnffian. this holy man; and the Colonel,
when he had finished examining his book
of prayer and crime, tossed it to me,
saying, There. that will show your
friends in England the kind of politicians
we make war against. Ha. what have
we here? This is more serious" And
he unfOlded a piece of paper which had
been concealed in the breast of the priest.
tion," he added, with grim smile. NO
body like priests and women for carry
ing about political secrets, so you may
have made valuable capture" and he
turned to where I stood with Valeria;
''let her be carefully searched
Now the Colonel was a very pompous
man. and the document he had Just dis
covered on the priest added to his sense
of self-impOrtance. When, therefore, a
large, carefully-folded. paper was pro-
duced from the neighborhood of Valeria's
lovely bosom. his eyes sparkled with an
ticipation. "HO, hOr' he exclaimed. as
he cutched it eagerly. ''the plot is thick
ening" and he spread out triumphantly.
before he had himself seen what it was,
the exGnisitely-drawn portrait of dom
key. There was suppressed litter,
which exploded into shout when the
bystanders looked into the COoneI's in
dignant face. l only was affected diff
ferently. rs my gaze fell upon this touch
ing evidence of dear Valeria'S love for
me. and glanced at her tenderly. This
has n deeper significance than you think
for" said the Colonel, looking round an
grily 'Croppo's wife does not carefully
secrete drawing like that on her person
for nothing. See, it is done by no com,
mon artist. 1t means something, and
must be preserved"
sit may have Biblical reference to
the state of Italy. You remember Is
Sachar was likened to an ass between
two burdens. In that case it probably
emanated from Rome" l remarked: but
nobody seemed to see the point of the
allusiOn, and the observation fell fiat.
That night 1 dined with the Colonel,
and after dinner l persuaded him to let
me visit Valera in prison. as l wished
to take the portrait Of the wife of the
celebrated brigand Chief. 1 thanked
my stars that my friend who had seen
her when we met in the glen was away
on duty with his detachment. and could
not testify to our former acquaintance.
Ny meeting with Valera on this occa-
sion was too touching and full of tender
passages to be of any general interest.
Valera told me that she was still bride:
that she had only been married a few months
and that she had been compelled to become
Croppo's wife against her choice. as the
brigands will was too powerful to be re.
sisted but that. though he was jealous
and attached to her, he was stern and
cruel, and so far from winning her love
since her marriage. he had rather
estranged it by his fits of passion and
ferOcity. As may be imagined, the por-
trait, which was really very successful,
took some time in execution. the more
especially as we had to discuss the posi-
bilities of Valeria's escape.
'We are going to be transferred to-
morrow to the prison at Foggia. she
said. eff, while we were passing through
the market-place, a disturbance of some
sort could be created. as it is market