Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-10-23
Heroine.
[Original.l

L AClAO III was u dIuOu Odnult
Pietro's success lay in strategy rather
than fighting. He would get up In
genious devices to induce people to
walk right into a trap and then hold
them for ransom. The country round
about his lair suffered from many of
his tricks, but the bandit never used
the same ruse twice, so that each new
one worked as we'll as the preceding.
Young Luigi. oldest son and Aheir OF
Count Bartinelli, was known to be a
sutton for the hand of Beatricla Car
rono. whose father had other plans for
her. One day Luigi while walking on
a road near his fathers villa was ac-
costed by a man, who asked him If
he were not Luigi Bartinelli. and when
he said yes the man told him that a
man a short distance up the road was
looking for him with a letter from a
lady, marked Immediate" Luigi, be-
lieying the note to be from Beatricia.
started in the direction indicated, over
took a man whom he supposed to be
the messenger, but was directed to go
farther. In this way the young man
was passed from one person to an
other till he came to n lonely place,
where he found one who admitted he
was the messenger. He said mock
lngly that the letter was from Senorita
Carrono, who instructed him to pay to
On rrioof Tho hordft QfA An0 f1r n .on
som. Luigi was taken to the robbers
lair, whence he dispatched a letter to
his father stating the case. 1t was i'm
possible for the count to raise so much
money Immediately, and the case
dragged.
One evening Maria Bassanio, daugh-
ter Of a farmer dwelling near Count
Bartinelli's estate, was left alone by
her father, who did not expect to be
at home till midnight. During the
evening, hearing a knock at the door,
she opened 1t, to find a stranger carry
ing on his back a heavy sack, under
which he staggered and seemed very
weary. He begged a lodging for the
night, but the girl refused. Then he
begged permission to leave his sack
till morning, to which she consented.
Depositing 1t on the floor beside the
fireplace, he departed.
Maria sat down beside a table and
began doing some n~eedlework. She
looked at the sack, wondering what 1t
contained. While she was looking at
1t she fancied that not far from its
center there seemed to be a very slight
rising and falling motion. Her heart
stood still. The motion was doubtless
produced by some one breathing.
Maria's first motion was a quick
glance at the wall where her father al
ways kept a gun. CHANGING again at
the sack, she saw something glisten in
the lamplight. 1t was the point of a
knife %protruding through the sack.
In another moment the blade began to
move, making a slit in the sack.
- With one bound Maria reached the
gun on the wall. took 1t from sygsup-
ports, cooked it and fired at random at
the sack. There was a spasmodic mo-
ton; then all was still again. In an
other moment something red stained
the sack and trickled through 1t on to
the floor. 1t was blood.
Terror stricken, Maria rushed to the
door and out to the road, down which
she fed as If on the wind. She had
not gone far before she ran right into
the arms of a man. So frightened was
she that she did not know him till he
eagerly begged her to tell him what
had happened. Then, recognizing her
father, she lost consciousness.
But not for long. Reviving, she gave
her experience. B%assanio, thinking it
best to secur assistance, gathered a
number of men who lived along the
road, and, all well armed, the party
went to the house. Opening the sack,
they found the dead body of a man
with a charge of shot in the breast.
IN of the men present pronounced
him to be Pietro Carricci.
From the bandits neck hung q silver
whistle. This indicated that his as
sistants were at hand. Putting out all
lights, the company kept quiet for a
time. Then Bassanio went out in front
of the house, and a shrill, sharp whis-
tie rung out on the still night air.
AiSSehoy lOOLStepo WeIe uediu, uuu
several men came down the road.
They had no sooner passed the gate
than they were seized from behind
and disarmed.
A messenger was sent to Count Bar
tinelli with the news of Carricci's death
and the capture Of a part of his band.
One of the bandits on promise of a
pardon agreed to guide a force of gen
darmes to the place where Luigi Bar
tinelli was held captive. The expedi-
ton was successful. The lair and all
In 1t were captured, and the young
man was released without ransom.
Count Bartinel1i realized the fact
that but for Maria's courageous act he
would either have lost his son or that
sons ransom. He at once gave her a