Among the Brigands Page 11

  CHAPTER X.

  _The captive Boy and his grisly Visitant.--The Hand on hisHead.--Denouement.--The Brigand Family.--The old Crone.--The RobberWife.--The Brigand Children.--A Revolution of Feeling.--The mainRoad.--The Carriage.--In Search of Bob._

  Paralyzed with terror, dumb with horror, Bob lay motionless andalmost breathless; and the grisly old hag reached out her long,lean, thin, bony, withered, shrivelled hand, and took his hair,while with the other hand she raised her sharp weapon.

  She took his hair very lightly and tenderly; so lightly, indeed,that Bob was just conscious of her touch; and though he expectedthat he would be torn from his bed and struck dead the next instant,yet this fate was delayed.

  She took his hair then in her hand very gently and tenderly, andin her other hand she raised the sharp weapon.

  Now, the sharp weapon was a pair of sheep-shears.

  These shears she held forward, and with them she snipped off, asnoiselessly as possible, a lock of Bob's hair.

  She pressed the lock of hair to her thin lips, looked at itsteadfastly for some time, pressed it once more to her lips, andthen put it in the folds of her dress.

  Then kneeling by Bob's side, she looked at him long and earnestly.She bent over him, and looked down upon him. She laid the shearsupon the floor, clasped her withered hands together, and gazed uponthe boy. He lay still. His eyes were closed; but the delay of hisfate and the snip of the shears in his hair bad roused him somewhatfrom his abyss of terror. He opened his eyes wide enough to seewhat was going on. He could not see the old woman's face, but hesaw her kneeling, and he saw her thin hands clasped before her,like one in prayer, and tremulous.

  The old woman bent over him; and if Bob could have seen her facehe would have known that this old creature was an object of anyother feeling rather than fear. Pale it was, that face that wasover him, and wrinkled, and emaciated; but there was upon it asoftened expression--an expression of yearning and of longing.That which at a distance had seemed to his frightened fancy ahungry, ghoulish look, was now nothing more than the earnest,fixed gaze of a love that longed to be satisfied--a gaze likethat of a bereaved mother who sees some one who reminds her ofher lost boy, and looks at him with a look of unutterable yearning.So, now, it was with this poor old decrepit creature. Perhaps inher past life some son had been torn from her, of whom Bob remindedher, and she had come now to feast herself with his face, whichreminded her of her lost boy, to take a lock of his hair, to bowdown over him in speechless emotion. Here, then, she knelt, herpoor hands clasping each other tremulously, her aged breastheaving with repressed sighs, while from her weak eyes there felltears which dropped upon the face of the boy.

  Those tears had a wonderful effect.

  As Bob's half-opened eyes saw the old woman's attitude, his grislyterror left him; his heart regained its ordinary pulsation; thetremendous pressure that had been upon his soul was removed; warm,and fresh, and free, his young blood sped through his veins, andall his frame was quickened to a bounding life and vigor. By theforce of this reaction he was roused from his stony lethargy, hisparalysis of horror, and his presence of mind was restored. Thenthere came those tears which fell upon his face. This completedthe recovery of his self-command. It did more. It assured him thathe was an object, not of murderous fury, but of tender love, andthat the one whom he had feared had come, not with purposes ofcruelty, but with yearnings of affection. Why this should be heknew not; he was content to know that it was so; and in thisknowledge all fear died out. Bat even now he felt somewhatembarrassed, for the old woman was evidently only giving way toher emotion because she believed him to be asleep; and thus he wasan unwilling witness of feelings which she supposed to be seen bynone. In this there seemed to be something dishonorable, and he wishedthe scene to end. He chose to do so therefore by making a few movementswithout opening his eyes; that is, he changed his position severaltimes, turned himself over and back again, and thus gave signs ofwaking. Upon this the old woman silently took her lamp and shears,and left the apartment by the way she had come.

  So ended the adventure.

  The effect produced upon Bob was a varied one. He still felt theconsequences of that horror into which he had fallen, that spasmand convulsion of terror which had seemed to turn him to stone,yet the relief that had been found was inexpressibly sweet. Inspite of the pain which still lingered about his heart, there camea calmer and happier frame of mind; the pain itself also graduallydied out, and its only result was a general languor. So commonplacea termination to what seemed a terrible event made his wholesituation and his other prospects seem commonplace, and he evenbegan to think that his captors might turn out to be as commonplaceas the old woman.

  He fell again into a deep sleep, and did not wake till it was broadday. On descending, the people all respectfully bade him goodmorning. Breakfast was ready, consisting of black bread, stew,and some coffee. Outside, the view was superb; the rising sun hadnot yet ascended high enough to shine down into the valley, butthe glowing heavens, and the shadows of the mountains, and thelight green of the little space nearest, with the darker green ofthe forests that clothed the mountain-sides, all made the spectaclea memorable one.

  Bob's whole state of mind was more healthy, and cheerful, andhopeful than it had been. Everything appeared bright and favorable.The old woman, as he looked at her this morning, did not seem tobe at all repulsive. Her face was shrivelled, it is true, and hereyes were weak; but she looked gentle and mild, and treated himwith very great favor and attention. The slatternly woman did notseem worse than any other Italian peasant woman. The children weredirty, no doubt; in fact, very dirty; but then they were brown,and healthy, and merry, not inclined to mischief, and quite respectfulto him. In short, Bob found himself surveying his situation andits surroundings with much complacency, and he began to feel thathe had misjudged these people altogether the night before.

  But other things were yet in store which were to redeem still morethe character of these people. He was standing outside the houseafter breakfast, when, to his surprise, he saw the second "brigand"approach. He knew that he had not had time to go to Salerno andreturn; so he saw that he could not have been to Salerno at all.He seemed to Bob to be going there now, for he was mounted on adonkey, and led another by the bridle. The one which he led was noother than the ass which had carried Bob to this place.

  Bob's only thought at seeing this was, that the "brigand" was nowsetting forth for Salerno, and was about to take the donkey withhim, either to sell it, or to return it to the owner, and get areward. But this idea was not left long in his mind.

  The first "brigand" came out, and the two men talked to one another,after which they turned to Bob, and the first brigand explained tohim that he was to mount the donkey. He pointed to the animal,smiled, waved his hand towards the road by which Bob had come, anduttered the word "Salerno."

  Bob's heart gave a wild leap; he could scarcely believe what heheard; but the faces of the two men were smiling, and they continuedto nod, and gesticulate, and repeat the word "Salerno." They lookedlike two benevolent farmers, and Bob wondered how he could everhave seen anything malignant in their very good natured faces.

  Of course there was nothing to do now but to hurry away to hisfriends. Yet Bob was not willing to take too abrupt a leave. Heremembered the old woman, and thought with a softened heart abouther emotion. He went back into the house, and shook hands with herfor good by. He even knew enough Italian to say "_Addio_." The oldcreature was much softened and burst into tears. Bob gave her oneof his cuff-buttons as a souvenir, for he had nothing else to give,and the cuff-button was an uncommonly elaborate affair; and he hadthe satisfaction of seeing that the old woman took it as though itwas of inestimable value. He then went around among them all, shookhands with all of them, from the slatternly woman down to thesmallest of the dirty children, and gave each one of themsomething--to the woman, a pencil case; to one child, his pocketknife; to another, a watch key; to a third, a shirt stud; to afourth, a memorandum book; and to
the fifth, a handkerchief.

  "Brigand" number two was going to accompany him, and it was nowevident to Bob that the delay which had taken place in hisrestoration to his friends was probably owing to the fact thatthey had to wait to procure bridles, or another donkey. It onlyremained for him now to bid good by to "brigand" number one,which he did with great earnestness, and cordiality, and fervor;presenting him at the same time with his neck-tie, a very brilliantpiece of satin, which the Italian received with a great flourish,and profuse expressions of thankfulness. Bob had several timesregretted his ignorance of the Italian language since his arrivalin the country, but never had his regrets been more sincere thanon this occasion. Had he been able to speak Italian he would havemade a speech then and there, and have invited them all, fromthe old woman down to the smallest child, to come and visit himand his friends either at Salerno, or at Naples, or in far-offAmerica. But alas! Bob's tongue was tied, and so the invitationremained unuttered. He did what he could, however, and utterlyexhausted the whole language of signs in the attempt to expressto them his thanks, and his good wishes for their happiness.The simple people seemed to comprehend him, for they were by nomeans dull, and gesticulated in return many things which seemedto convey the same meaning; and when at last Bob rode away, thehumble inhabitants watched him until he passed out of sight.