Among the Brigands

by James De Mille

  CHAPTER V.

  _They discuss the Situation.--They prepare to foot it.--A toilsomeWalk and a happy Discovery.--The Language of Signs once more.--TheMountain. Cavalcade.--Bob's Ambition.--Its Results--Bobvanishes.--Consternation of the Donkey Boy.--Consternation of theCavalcade.--E Perduto!_

  The mention of brigands produced a startling and powerful effectupon the whole party, and after Uncle Moses' wail of despair, andFrank's rebuke, there was silence for a time.

  "Well," said David, "I don't know. I don't believe in brigandsaltogether. Millions of people come to Italy without seeing anythingof the kind, and why should we? For my part, I still think it verylikely that the driver has driven back to some place on the roadwhere he can get better entertainment for man and beast than isoffered at Paestum."

  "Where could he go?" said Frank. "There isn't any inn for miles."

  "O you don't know," said David. "There are some by-roads, I daresay, that lead to houses on the hills. I dare say he'll soon beback. From what I've seen of the Italians, I think they'd stand agreat deal before losing any money. The driver would wait till hegot his pay, and then try to take his revenge."

  "Well, it may be so," said Frank; "burin any case, it will be bestfor us to start off at once. There's no use waiting here anylonger. We can foot it, after all. And we may come to houses, orwe may pick up a wagon, and get a lift."

  This was evidently the best thing that could be done, and so theyall at once set off on foot, on their way back to Salerno.

  Fortunately for them, they were quite fresh. They had been drivingall the morning; and for two hours they had been strolling up anddown within a small circuit, looking at temples, or sprawling onthe grass. They had eaten a good lunch before leaving the carriage,and had not had time yet to feel hungry. The weather was mild andpleasant. The sun shone brightly, without being too hot, andeverything was favorable to a walk. More than all, the road wasvery good, and not being much travelled, it was grass-grown to agreat extent, and this grass afforded an easy and agreeable pathfor their feet.

  They set out in high spirits, walking pretty vigorously, yet nottoo rapidly, for they wished to husband their strength, chattingall the while, and debating the point as to the driver's intentions.Frank maintained that he had deserted them out of malice, and Bobcoincided with this view. David, on the other hand, believed thathe had merely driven away to find refreshment, and would return,and Clive sided with him. But, as mile after mile was traversed,and still no signs of the driver appeared, David's theory grewweak, and Frank's grew strong. As for Uncle Moses, he said nothing,his feeling being chiefly one of intense anxiety to get the boyshome before meeting with brigands. The awful images of Italianbanditti, which Frank's words had called up in his mind, were notto be easily got rid of.

  They walked on for about two hours, and by that time had succeededin putting some seven or eight miles between themselves and Paestum.The road now became wider, and quite free from grass, giving everyindication of being a well-trodden thoroughfare, and exciting thehope that they would find some wine cart at least, or other modeof conveyance, by means of which they could complete their journeyto Salerno.

  Suddenly, on making a turn in the road, they saw before them somemoving objects, the sight of which elicited a shout of joy from Bob.

  "Donkeys! Donkeys!" he cried. "Hurrah, boys!"

  "Why, what good are they?" said David.

  "Good?" cried Bob; "every good in the world. We can hire them, orbuy them, and ride back to Salerno."

  "That's a capital idea," cried Frank, in great delight. "I hopedto find wine carts, or ox carts; but donkeys are infinitely better."

  Hurrying forward, they soon overtook the donkeys. There were sixor eight of them, guided by an old man and a boy. Frank instantlyaccosted them. Of course he could not speak Italian, but by meansof signs he succeeded in conveying to the old man's mind therequisite idea. On this occasion he felt most strongly the benefitwhich he had received from his intercourse with Paolo. Frankthus pointed to his feet, and then backward, and then forward,and then pointing to the donkey nearest, he made a motion tomount, after which he showed the old man some money, and tappingit, and pointing to the donkey, he looked inquiringly at him, asif to ask, "How much?"

  The old man made some signs which seemed to Frank to be a question,"How far?" so he roared out, in stentorian tones, "Salerno."

  Upon this the old man stood for a little while in silent thought.Then he looked at Frank, and then, pointing with one hand at Frank'smoney, with the other he touched the donkey which seemed to saythat he would let the donkey go for that price. As there was notquite a dollar in Frank's hand, in loose change, the charge seemedto him to be very reasonable, and even, as he expressed it, dirtcheap. So thought all the rest, and they all proceeded to bringforth their loose change, and pass it over to the old-man. Thehands of the latter closed over the silver, with a nervous andalmost convulsive clutch, and after one long, hungry look at eachlot that was given him, he would insert each very carefully in theremote corner of an old sheepskin poach that hung in front of him,suspended around his waist.

  But now arose a difficulty. The donkeys had no saddles. That wasa small matter, however, and was not the real difficulty. Thereal difficulty lay in the fact that they had no bridles. Howcould they guide them?

  Frank tried by signs to express this difficulty to the old man,and the latter understood him, for he smiled, nodded, shruggedhis shoulders, and then pointed to his boy, and waved his bandin the direction they wished to go. The boy also smiled andnodded, and made signs of his own, by which he plainly showedthem that he intended to accompany them as guide, and lead thedrove, while they might ride.

  This being understood, the boys felt satisfied, and each one nowproceeded to select the donkey which was most to his taste. Bobhad already made his selection, and was mounted on the back of thebiggest donkey of the lot--an animal whose size, breadth of chest,and slender limbs gave him an air of actual elegance. All the boysenvied Bob his mount; but none of them complained. Frank secureda solid animal, that had a matter-of-fact expression, and lookedas though he had no nonsense in him. Clive chose one that had aslight shade of melancholy in his face, as though he had knownsorrow. David's donkey was a shaggy, hard-headed, dogged-lookinganimal, that seemed bent on having his own way. Uncle Moses'mount was rather eccentric. He chose the smallest animal of thelot,--a donkey, in fact,--which was so small that its rider'sfeet could only be kept from the ground with difficulty. UncleMoses, indeed, if he had chosen, might have taken steps on theground, and accelerated the motion of his beast by propellinghim with his own feet.

  Great was the laughter that arose among the party as each onemounted his gallant steed, and turned to look upon his companion.Jeers, and jokes, and light chaff arose, and the boys found no endof fun in this new adventure. But Uncle Moses wasn't able to seeany fun in it at all. He sat with an expression on his face thatwould have done honor to a martyr at the stake, and the boysrespected him too much to include him in their good-natured raillery.

  The Italian boy took David's donkey by the ear, and started.David's donkey, in spite of his appearance of obstinacy, followedwithout resistance, and trotted nimbly off, the Italian boyrunning easily by his side. The other donkeys followed. As theyhad no bridles and no saddles, some of the party had a littledifficulty in preserving their balance, but managed to do so bygrabbing the coarse hair of the donkey's mane. The pace was arapid one, and it was wonderful to see how well the Italian boykept up with them without losing breath, or slackening it. Thishe did for a long time.

  Among those who cared nothing for saddle or bridle was Bob. On theback of a donkey he felt as comfortable as though he was sittingin an easy-chair. As they trotted along the road, Bob sat with hisarms folded, and his legs now hanging loosely, now drawn up infront of him, and at other times pretending that he had a side-saddle.At length he became discontented with the subordinate position thathe was occupying, in merely following in the rear of a leader likeDavid. He was a far
better rider than David, and his donkey a farbetter donkey than the leading one. With the ambitions desire toobtain the post of honor for himself, he beat, pounded, and kickedat his donkey. For a long time this had no effect whatever; thedonkey not only was not stimulated by it, but he did not even seemto be conscious of it. At last Bob determined to resort to othermethods. Drawing a pin from his shirt collar, where it was fillingthe place of a lost button, he stuck it two or three times in thedonkey's flanks.

  This was too much. The patience of Bob's donkey had reached itsfarthest limit. It could endure it no more.

  With a wild bound the donkey sprang forward, and in threepaces had cleared the way to the first. Another leap, and hewas beyond them.

  The donkey ran like a race-horse. His slender, sinewy limbsseemed as fitted for running and for speed as the limbs of anantelope. His head was down, his neck arched, his tail inthe air, and his long, rapid strides bore him with astonishingvelocity far ahead and far away.

  The Italian boy tittered a cry of dismay, and stopped short.The donkey which he was holding stopped also, and the othersdid the same. The Italian boy looked with a face of consternationafter the runaway. All the rest looked with vague fears inthe same direction, and with a half hope that Bob might stopthe animal, or turn him.

  "_E perduto!_" exclaimed the Italian boy; and though they didnot understand Italian, yet there was something in his tone,and look, and gesture, which told them the meaning of thosewords--"He's lost!"