The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1905-01-27

Are we attacked? Are they friends
or foes? Is the prefetto's house 1,
danger?"
threw aside my wig and beard b
assure her OF my identity.
THE villa Is attacked by the Count
al Pordino." l said, who seeks to take
you away by force. But the warning
was brought In time, and the soldiers
OF the prefetto are fighting OF the
forces OF the count"
Mia was now beside herself with
grief, passion and fear. STOPPING, she
picked up the knife that Dambo had
dropped.
Il will do it, Signor Wilberton," she
said. Il am no longer weak. l am q
woman. but l can fight. have been
a circus performer. and can take my
own part. Let them come. I will kill
the prefetto and will kill the count.
Dut II they conquer me and I fail to
Kill them, will plunge this knife into
my own heart rather than become
the bride, the slave, of the Count di
Pordino."
Her eyes flashed as she spoke, her
bosom rose and fell in an excess of
emotion, and the delicate but muscu-
lar little fingers grasped the handle
OF the knife in most determined way.
Now Dambo, who had been motion
less under the effects of the merciless
blow l had given him, began to>crawl
aWay from me. Springing to the win.
dow, which was shaded with heavy
lace curtains, held in festoons by cord.
tore the cord away, and Selling the
Italian, bound him strongly and Sc
curely, and warning him not to make
any further attempt to escape, left
him in a heap on the floor.
The din in and around the villa was
now something awful. Sounds of rifle
shots, cries, shrieks, means and curses
reached us through the doors and win
dows, and rushed out on the balcony
to get peep at the scenes of war be.
low.
More lights had been brought. Ian.
terms flashed all over the villa grounds
The monastery bells were changing the
midnight alarm. The battle had be-
come hand-to-hand struggle, the
forces of the prefetto essaying not
only to defend the villa from attack,
but to drive the invaders from the
place, and the horde of cutthroats I'm.
der the Count di Pordino still hot in
the hunt for Nita Barlotti, and what
ever else of plumber they could lay
their hands to.
Backward and forward the clashing
groups ran, shouting, shooting, stab.
bling, blinded by rage. and passion, in.
famed by the blood already spilled, de-
life where they could, fearing
not death themselves.
To my eye it seemed as If the
Count di Pordino's bandits were gain
ing. And if the military failed to
arrive from Cagliari, all would soon
be up with Nita Barlotti and me.
Apart from the other struggling
combatants, two stalwart men swayed
to and fro in a fight to the death.
One had worn mask, and it had fall
en- off, disclosing the, features of the
Count di Pordino. The other was
Maligni, the prefetto of Cagliari.
They were armed with knives, and
as they writhed and twisted in each
others grasp, the knives were
plunged first into one and then into
the other, until it seemed as if they
surely must drop dead from their
wounds.
Near these two struggling princi-
pals in the ARRAY stood Brother Mich
lel, the Jesuit, and so silent and cold
vas he, amid the boiling and seething
# the caldron around him, that his
,almness thrilled me as in another
ome great deed of valor might do.
And Nita saw him, and watched the
ilent figure moment in wonder, so
istinct and apart from the entire
Gene did he seem to be.
"Signor!" she whispered. "See I
hat silent monk. Is he not grandly I
aim amid all the horrors around c
i'm! He is different from the others. =
ZEE how noble and still he is"
Eyes," replied, in q whisper.
That is Brother Michael-a Jesuit. {
[e saved me from the soldiers and
rison guards when ran away, and Il
Q saved my life from a wound they
ave me. have my suspicion that
rother Michael is one whom the pre-
tito thinks is doing servile penance