Among the Brigands Page 2

  CHAPTER I.

  _Stranger in a strange Land.--A Citadel of Trunks.--Besieged.--Retreatin good Order.--A most tremendous Uproar.--Kicks! Thumps!--Smash ofChain!--Crash of Tables!--A general Row!--The Cry for Help!--TheVoice of David!--The Revelation of the Darkness!--The fiery Eyes!--TheUnseen!--The Revelation of the Mystery.--A general Fight._

  Mr. Moses V. Sprole had passed the greater part of his life in hisnative village, and being anxious to see the world, resolved upona tour in Europe. As he did not care to go alone, he offered totake with him his four nephews, who were great favorites with theirbachelor uncle, and his chief associates. This offer met with aneager response from the boys, and a willing assent from theirparents, who fully believed that a tour of this description wouldbe of immense benefit to them. This brief explanation will serveto account for the appearance of Uncle Moses in Naples, where helanded on a mellow day in February, _en route_ for Switzerland,bowed down with the responsibility of several heavy trunks, andthe still heavier responsibility of four fine lumps of boys, ofwhose troubles, trials, tribulations, and manifold adventures, heseemed, on the present occasion, to have a mournful presentiment.

  These troubles began at once; for scarcely had they landed whenthey found themselves surrounded by the lazzaroni, and the air wasfilled with a babel of exclamations.

  "_Signori!_" "_Signo!_" "_Moosoo!_" "_Meestaire!_" "_Sare!_" "_Carraze baggage!_" "_Tek ze loggage!_" "_Show ze hotel!_" "_Hotel dellaEuropa!_" "_Hotel dell' Inghelterra!_" "_Hotel dell' America!_""_Eccelenza, you wanta good, naisy, rosbif, you comma longsidame!_" "_Come long!_" "_Hurrah!_" "_Bravo!_" "_O, yais._" "_Vernais._" "_O, yais. You know me. American Meestaire!_"

  All this, and ever so much more, together with scraps of French,German, Bohemian, Hungarian, Russian, and several other languageswhich the lazzaroni had picked up for the purpose of making themselvesagreeable to foreigners. They surrounded Uncle Moses and his fourboys in a dense crowd--grinning, chattering, gesticulating, dancing,pushing, jumping, and grimacing, as only Neapolitan lazzaroni can;and they tried to get hold of the luggage that lay upon the wharf.

  Bagged, hatless, shirtless, blessed with but one pair of trousersper man; bearded, dirty, noisy; yet fat and good-natured withal;the lazzaroni produced a startling effect upon the newly arrivedtravellers.

  Uncle Moses soon grew utterly bewildered by the noise and disorder.One idea, however, was prominent in his mind, and that was hisluggage. He had heard of Italian brigands. At the sight of thiscrowd, all that he had beard on that subject came back before him."Rinaldo Rinaldini," a charming brigand book, which had been thedelight of his childhood, now stood out clear in his recollection.The lazzaroni seemed to be a crowd of bandits, filled with but onepurpose, and that was to seize the luggage. The efforts of thelazzaroni to get the trunks roused him to action. Springing forward,he struck their hands away with a formidable cotton umbrella, anddrew the trunks together in a pile. Three lay in a row, and onewas on the top of these. The pile was a small pyramid.

  "Here, boys," he cried; "you keep by me, Don't let these varmintsget the trunks. Sit down on 'em, and keep 'em off."

  Saying this, Uncle Moses put the two Clark boys on a trunk on oneside, and the two Wilmot boys on a trunk on the other; and mountinghimself upon the middle trunk, he sat down and glared defiantly atthe enemy.

  This action was greeted by the lazzaroni with a burst of laughterand a shout of,--

  "Br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-ra-vo!"

  To which Uncle Moses and the boys made no reply. In fact, it wouldhave been a little difficult for them to do so, as not one of themunderstood a word of any language spoken among men except theirown. So they said nothing; but constituting themselves into abeleaguered garrison, they intrenched themselves within theircitadel, and bade defiance to the foe.

  The foe, on the other hand, pressed round them, bombarding thegarrison with broken English, broken French, and broken German,and sometimes made an assault upon the trunks.

  Time passed on, and the garrison sat there, holding their own. Atlength they all became aware of the fact that they were excessivelyhungry. It was very evident that this kind of thing could not lastmuch longer.

  Meanwhile Uncle Moses had recovered his presence of mind. He wasnaturally cool and self-possessed, and after mounting the trunks,and gathering the boys about him, he quickly rallied from hisconfusion, and looked eagerly around to find some way by which hemight be extricated from his difficulty.

  At last a way appeared.

  Around him, in his immediate neighborhood, stood the lazzaroni, asurgent, as patient, and as aggressive as ever, with their offersof assistance. Beyond these were people passing up and down thewharf, all of whom were foreigners, and therefore inaccessible.Beyond these again was a wide space, and in the distance a busystreet, with carriages driving to and fro.

  Uncle Moses looked for a long time, hoping to see something likea cab. In vain. They all seemed to him to be "one-hoss shays," andwhat was worse, all seemed to be filled.

  "Boys," said he at last, "I'm goin' to make a move. You jest sithere, and hold on to the trunks. I'll go an hunt up one of themone-hoss shays. There ain't nothin' else that I can do. Hold onnow, hard and fast, till I come back."

  With these words off went Uncle Moses, and the boys remained behind,waiting.

  A very fine-looking set of boys they were too.

  There was Frank Wilmot, about fifteen years of age, tall, stout,with fine, frank face, and crisp, curly hair.

  There was Clive Wilmot, about fourteen, tall and slight, with largeeyes and dark hair.

  There was David Clark, about Frank's age, rather pale, with seriousface, and quiet, thoughtful manner.

  And there was Robert, or, as he was always called, Bob Clark--anodd-looking boy, with a bullet head, pug nose, comical face, browneyes, and short shingled hair.

  Uncle Moses was not gone long. By some wonderful means or other hehad succeeded in procuring a vehicle of that kind which is universalin this city, and he now reappeared to the delighted boys, comingat a tearing pace towards them, seated in a Neapolitan caleche.

  The Neapolitan caleche is a wonderful machine, quite unequalledamong wheeled vehicles. The wheels are far back, the shafts arelong, and horse draws it. But in the caleche it is a very commonthing for any quantity of people to pile themselves. There is aseat for two, which is generally occupied by the most, worthy,perhaps; but all around them cluster others,--behind them, beforethem, and on each side of them,--clinging to the shafts, standingon the axle, hanging on the springs. Indeed, I have heard of babiesbeing slung underneath, in baskets; but I don't believe that.

  At any rate, Uncle Moses and his party all tumbled in triumphantly.Two trunks were put in front, one behind, and one suspendedunderneath. David and Clive sat behind, Frank and Uncle Moses onthe seat, while Bob sat on the trunk in front, with the driver.The lazzaroni looked on with mournful faces, but still profferedtheir services. In patient perseverance few people can equal them.

  The driver saw at once the purpose of the Americans, though theycould not tell him what they wanted. So he drove them to a hotelin the Strada Toledo, where he left them, after having been paidby Uncle Moses the largest fare he had ever received in his life;for Uncle Moses gave him about five dollars, and felt grateful tohim besides.

  Their apartments were very nice rooms in the sixth story. The hotelwas a quadrangular edifice, with a spacious court-yard. Around thiscourt-yard ran galleries, opening into each story, and communicatingwith one another by stairways, which were used by all the occupantsof the house.

  From the gallery in the sixth story a door opened into their parlor.On the left side of this was a snug bedroom, of which Uncle Mosestook possession; on the right side was another, which was appropriatedby David and Clive; while the third, which was on the other side,and looked out into the street, was taken by Frank and Bob.

  Thus the four boys paired off, and made themselves very comfortable..

  That night they all went to bed early. Uncle Moses reti
red last.All slept soundly, for they were very much fatigued.

  But just before daybreak, and in the dim morning twilight, Frankand Bob were suddenly roused by a most tremendous uproar in theparlor--kicks, thumps, tables upsetting, chairs breaking, and ageneral row going on; in the midst of which din arose the voice ofDavid, calling frantically upon themselves and Uncle Moses.

  This was certainly enough to rouse anybody.

  Up jumped Frank, and rushed to the door.

  Up jumped Bob, and sprang after him.

  The noise outside was outrageous. What was it? Could it be robbers?No. Robbers would prefer to do their work in silence. What was it?

  Slowly and cautiously Frank opened the door, and looked forth intothe parlor. It was as yet quite dark, and the room into which hepeered was wrapped in the shades of night. What little he couldsee he saw but indistinctly. Yet he saw something.

  He saw a dark, shadowy figure in rapid motion backward and forward,and at every movement some article of furniture would go with acrash to the floor. Sometimes the figure seemed to be on the table,at other times it was leaping in the air. Suddenly, as he looked,the door, which opened out into the parlor, was banged back witha violent blow, and shut again. Frank was nearly knocked down.

  "What is it?" asked Bob.

  "I don't know," said Frank, "unless it's a madman."

  "What shall we do?"

  "If we were all together," said Frank, "we might make a rush athim, and secure him. I've a great mind to make a start, as it is."

  "It must be a brigand!" said Bob; for his mind, like the minds of therest of the party, was largely filled with images of Italian bandits.

  "Perhaps so," said Frank; "but at any rate let's make a rush athim. Will you do it?"

  "Of course," said Bob.

  At this Frank carefully opened the door again, and looked forth.The noise had ceased for the time. Bob poked his head forth also.They looked eagerly into the room.

  Suddenly Frank touched Bob.

  "Look!" he whispered, "by the table."

  Bob looked.

  It was certainly a singular sight that met their view. In the midstof the gloom they could see two balls of light that seemed likeeyes, though there was no form visible to which these glaring,fiery eyes might belong. And the eyes seemed to glare out of thedarkness directly at them. All was still now; but the very stillnessgave additional horror to that unseen being, whose dread gaze seemedto be fastened upon them.

  Suddenly David's voice was heard from the next room,--

  "Frank! Bob!"

  "Hallo!" cried both boys.

  "What shall we do? Can't you do something?"

  "I'll see," cried Frank. "Bob, light the lamp."

  "I haven't any matches," said Bob.

  "What a pity!" said David. "Can't you wake Uncle Moses? Your roomis next to his."

  At this Bob went to the wall between his room and that of UncleMoses, and began to pound with all his might. Uncle Moses did notrespond, but there came a response from another quarter. It wasfrom the thing in the parlor. Once more the fearful uproar began.Crash! went the chairs. Bang! went the tables. A rapid racket ofhard footfalls succeeded, mingled with the smash of the furniture.

  Frank closed the door.

  "If I only had a light," said he, "I should know what to do. Butwhat can a fellow do in the dark?"

  "I wonder what's the matter with Uncle Moses."

  "He? O, he would sleep through anything."

  "I wonder if it is a brigand, after all," said Bob.

  "I don't know. I still think it may be amadman."

  "I don't like those glaring eyes."

  "If I only had a fair chance, and could see," said Frank, fiercely,"I'd soon find out what is behind those glaring eyes."

  Louder grew the din while they were speaking--the rattle, thebang, the smash, the general confusion of deafening sounds.

  "I should like to know," said Frank, coolly, "how much longer thissort of thing is going to last."

  For some time longer the boys kept the door shut, and the noise atlength ceased as suddenly as it had begun. It had now grown muchlighter, for in these southern countries twilight, whether in themorning or the evening, is but of short duration, and light advancesor retires with a rapidity which is startling to the natives ofmore northern latitudes.

  This increase of light gave fresh courage to Frank, who, even inthe dark, and in the face of the mystery, had behaved very well;and he began to arrange a plan of action. His arrangements weresoon completed. He simply drew a jackknife from his pocket, andopened it.

  "Now, Bob," said he, "you follow me."

  "All right," said Bob, cheerily.

  Frank quietly opened the door, and looked forth, while Bob, ineager curiosity, looked out the same instant. There was now sufficientlight for them to see every object in the room. A scene of wilddisorder revealed itself. All the furniture was turned topsy-turvy.The door leading to the gallery was open, and there, before theireyes, standing on the sofa, was the being that had created suchexcitement.

  One look was enough.

  One cry escaped both the boys:--

  "A billy goat! A miserable billy goat!" cried they.

  And the next moment both of them sprang forward and seized theanimal by the horns.

  Then began a struggle. The goat was strong. He was also excitedby the singularity of his surroundings and the suddenness of theattack. So he showed fight, and resisted desperately. Frank andBob, however, clung most tenaciously to the horns which they hadseized. Backward and forward the combatants pushed and dragged oneanother, with a new uproar as loud as the previous one.

  In the midst of this they were interrupted by the appearance ofUncle Moses.

  The door of his room opened, and that venerable personage made hisappearance in a long night-gown, which reached to his heels, andwearing a long, starched night-cap, which nearly touched the ceiling.

  "Wal, I never!" was his ejaculation. "What's this, boys? Why,whatever _air_ you doin' with that thar goat?"

  The boys returned no answer, for they were struggling with theirenemy. By this time David and Clive made their appearance, and eachseized one of the goat's hind legs. This additional help decidedthe contest. The animal was thrown down and held there, stillkicking and struggling violently.

  Scarcely had they taken breath when there was another interruption.This time it was at the outside door. A burly Italian made hisappearance there--very brown, very bearded, very dirty, and veryunsavory. For some time he stood without saying one word, staringinto the room, and fixing his eyes now on the goat as it was helddown by the boys, again on the broken furniture, and finally onthe long, and somewhat ghostly figure of Uncle Moses.

  "_Santissima Madre!_"

  This Was the exclamation that at last burst from the big, burly,brown, bearded, dirty, and unsavory Italian. At this the boys lookedup, unconsciously loosening their grasp as they did so. The goat,feeling the grasp relax, made a mighty effort, and rolled over.Then he leaped to his feet. Then he made a wild bound to the door,over the prostrate forms of David and Clive. The big, burly, brown,bearded, dirty, and unsavory Italian made an effort to evade theanimal's charge. He was not quick enough. Down he went, struck fullin the breast, and away went the goat into the gallery, and downthe stairs, and so into the outer world.