Among the Brigands Read online

  CHAPTER VII.

  The Lurking-place of the Brigands.--The captive Boy.--The hideousHousehold.--The horrible old Hag.--The slattern Woman.--The dirtyChildren.--The old Crone and the evil Eye.--Despondency of Bob.--IsEscape Possible?--Night.-Imprisoned.--The Bed of Straw.--Outlookinto the Night from the Prison Windows.

  A brigand!

  Such was the appalling thought that came to the mind of Bob, asthe Italian advanced towards, him. As he came closer, his facebecame more distinctly revealed. It was not a face which reassuredhim. Heavy, shaggy black eyebrows, from beneath which gleamed blackand fiery eyes, a skin browned by the hot, Italian sun, and whiteteeth, that glistened from behind a vast matted mass of tangledbeard and moustache,--such was the face that appeared. It seemedan evil and sinister face--a face that revealed a cruel andtreacherous soul. No wonder that Bob's heart sank within him as hesaw himself confronted by one like this.

  The Italian stood looking at him with sharp and close scrutiny.Then he said something.

  Bob could not understand him, and tried to explain by signs thathe had lost his way, and that the donkey had run away with him. Healso pointed to himself, and said, "Americano," and waved his handin the direction of the road up which he had come, and said,"Salerno." This was very well for Bob, especially when his anxietyof mind is taken into account, and his signs seemed intelligibleto the Italian. He looked at Bob carefully, and finally seemed tomake out an explanation of his appearance, which satisfied him,after which he motioned to him to follow, and walked back towardsthe bridge. Bob's first impulse was to rush away, and run as fastas his legs could carry him; but the thought of the Italian's gunchecked the impulse, and he followed.

  Meanwhile, the other brigand, who had caught the ass, stood strokingit and examining it. The animal seemed perfectly quiet and docile;altogether a changed animal, different far from that wild beastthat had torn Bob away from all his friends, and thrown him hereamong these dread associates. This other man had very much the samegeneral appearance as the first one. His beard was reddish, andhis eyes were smaller, the general expression of his face was moresinister, as Bob thought, and though he had no gun, yet he seemednone the less formidable.

  The two men stood talking together for some time. One of them seemedto be narrating to the other Bob's account of himself, as he hadunderstood it from the signs that had been made. After this theyseemed to be discussing the subject of Bob and the ass, for theylooked at him and at the animal from time to time during theirconversation. At length they seemed to have made up their mindsabout the subject, for they stopped talking; and motioning Bob tofollow, they walked away, leading the ass with them.

  Again a strong impulse rose in Bob's mind to fly; but againthe dread of being shot at prevented him. He therefore followedas before.

  There was in this place a circular sweep of hills enclosing avalley, through which the brook ran. Crossing this by a bridge,the road wound along a gentle declivity, and not very far away wereone or two houses. One of these was two stories high, muchdilapidated, and looked as though it might once have been a wind-mill,or something of that sort. It stood on the edge of the torrent,and the door-way was towards the road. The other buildings seemedto be barns of some sort, or sheep-folds. The grassy declivityspread away till it reached a steeper ascent, and here there begana forest which covered the mountain-sides.

  Towards this old mill Bob was led by his captors. As he drew nearhe saw some dirty children at play, in front of the door-way. Soonan old woman came out, followed by another, who was younger. Theold woman was a hideous old crone. Her hair was a matted gray mass,her teeth were gone, and her face was pinched, and so seamed withwrinkles, that she looked as though she might be over a hundredyears old. The other woman was very dirty and slatternly. She hada dirty baby in her arms; her hair was in disorder, her face wasgreasy and smouched, and a filthy cloth, which might once have beenwhite, was on her head. The women and children were all barefoot.As Bob approached, they all stared at him with the most intensecuriosity; the two women stood still and stared; the childrenstopped their play and stared; and there was something in the glowand glitter of all these fiery, black, Italian eyes which seemedhorrible to poor Bob, and made his flesh fairly creep.

  The men then began to talk to the women, evidently explainingabout Bob and the ass; and as they talked the eyes of all of themwere most of the time fixed upon these two. As for the children,they glared for a time with very evil looking faces at Bob; butat length the ass seemed to offer superior attractions to them,for they made a rush at it, climbed on its back, pulled at itsears and tail, and tormented it in various ways. Strange to say,this animal, that had punished poor Bob's little trick so fearfully,showed no resentment whatever at his present treatment, but stoodthere, no longer the fiery wild ass, but the very living imageof a patient donkey.

  Bob stood there looking upon the scene with his heart sinking withinhim, yet by no means despairing. He had too high a spirit and toostout a heart to give up so soon; and as he stood there, in thepower of this evil company, he turned over in his mind a hundreddifferent modes of escape. If he could once effect his escape fromthese people, he might easily go back by the mountain path. Buthow could he escape? That was the difficulty. Thus far, to hisamazement, they had not inflicted any cruelty upon him, nor hadthey tied his hands; but that was, no doubt, owing to their contemptfor him, and their conviction that he would not venture to fly.All that Bob had ever heard about the manners and customs of Italianbrigands now came to his mind--how they detain their prisonerssubject to a ransom, treating them well enough until the ransomcomes, but if it fails, then inflicting upon them the most horriblecruelties. To Bob it now seemed certain that they intended to holdhim for ransom, and that they would treat him well till he shouldbe freed. As he felt certain about obtaining his ransom, he beganto feel less anxious, and his bold and enterprising spirit beganto conceive various ways by which he might baffle the brigands.

  At length one of the men went off, and the younger of the womenwent into the house. The brigand with the gun remained, and talkedfor a little while with the old woman. It was evident to Bob, bythe glances which they threw at him, that he was the subject oftheir conversation. To him the old woman was by far the mostobnoxious of the whole crowd. The slatternly woman, the dirty,impish children, the brigands,--all these were bad enough; but theold woman was far worse to his imagination. There was in her wateryeyes, in the innumerable wrinkles of her leathery skin, in hertoothless jaws, something so uncanny that he almost shuddered. Shereminded him of some of those witches of whom he had read, who, informer and more superstitious ages, were supposed to have dealingswith the evil one, and whose looks certainly sustained such asupposition. To Bob, at that time, it seemed that if ever any onedid in reality have dealings with the evil one, that one was theold hag behind him. To him she seemed a witch; he thought of heras a witch; and if she had at that time put on a peaked hat,straddled a broomstick, and flown off through the air, it wouldscarcely have surprised him.

  At length the brigand went off, and the old woman came up to Bob.At her approach Bob involuntarily shrank back a step or two. Theold hag fixed her small, watery eyes on him, mumbled with hertoothless jaws, and after a few efforts croaked out something inItalian, followed by some gestures with her hands, which Bobunderstood to convey a general assurance of safety. For this hewas prepared, since his mind was now fixed upon the idea that hewould be kept for a ransom. Then the old woman came nearer, andput one of her thin, bony, shrivelled hands on his shoulder. Thetouch was like the touch of a skeleton, and suggested horriblethoughts to poor Bob. A thrill of disgust and terror shot throughhim; but he stood it, for he did not like to show his disgust, forfear of offending his hideous companion. The old woman, then standingbefore him with her hand on his shoulder, looked at him for a longtime in silence. Bob looked back at her, and it seemed to him thathe had never seen in all his life, such a hideous face. The wrinkleswere now more plainly visible, the jaws seemed to be more retreating,the cheeks wer
e sunken, the cheek-bones projecting, the eyes, smalland weak, showed tears that slowly trickled down.

  Suddenly the old hag gave a low groan, which Bob attributed to somepain or other, and turned away. He noticed that she was trembling,and thought it was the weakness of her extreme old age. He waspuzzled by these movements of hers, and felt sure that they meantno good. After a few minutes she, turned again, and beckoned tohim to follow. She led the way into the house. On reaching thedoor Bob hesitated, and stood without looking in. He saw a largeapartment occupying all the lower story of the old mill, with somerude seats and rough beds. A long ladder led up to the upper story.The old woman beckoned for him to come in, and Bob did not like torefuse. So he went in. She then brought forth some cold mutton andblack bread, which she offered him. Bob was ravenously hungry; butat that moment an idea came to him--a suspicion that was createdby the very sinister aspect and very singular behavior of the oldcrone. The suspicion was, that it was drugged or poisoned. Thissuspicion was not at all in accordance with the idea that they werekeeping him for a ransom, but it was an irrepressible one, andthough hungry, he did not dare to eat. So he shook his head. Uponthis the old hag took the things away, and Bob went out again.

  The dirty children had been playing with the donkey all thistime, and still kept up their sport but in the midst of theirsport they still had curiosity enough to keep their eyes fromtime to time upon the strange boy who had come thus suddenly intotheir midst. The furtive, sinister glances of their wicked blackeyes had something uncanny in them, which made Bob feel moreuncomfortable than ever. He took a seat upon a stone in front ofthe house, on one side of the door-way, and looked all around.The mountains arose there, rising first gently in an easy acclivity,and then sweeping up with a greater incline. Their sides, andeven their summits, were here all covered with forests. On theleft he could see the bridge over which the road passed--the roadthat led to safety. Could he but escape for a few moments fromthe eyes of his jailers, he might be saved. And why not? Twowomen, and some dirty children--why should he care for such guardsas these? One rush, one leap, and he would be free. Willinglywould he walk all the way to Salerno. Anything would be welcomeafter such a captivity as this.

  But Bob was doomed to disappointment; for just as he had made uphis mind to fly, just as he was looking all around to see if thecoast was clear, he saw, to his deep distress, the two brigandsapproaching from the outhouse. They were carrying something which,on nearer approach, turned out to be a sheep, which they had justkilled. Of course all thoughts of flight now departed, and Bobcould only deplore his own stupidity in allowing that one chanceof escape to pass away.

  After this they began to boil portions of the sheep in a pot; andsoon the savory odor of a stew filled the room, and came to Bob'snostrils. As he was half starving, the delicious odor excited theutmost longing to taste it, and he at once began to feel rathersatisfied that he had not fled. He felt that a flight after dinnerwould be far better. In due time the dinner was ready. It was astew,--mutton, with vegetables, cooked deliciously,--and Bob'shunger was so great that if it had been worse cooked it would havebeen a banquet. He had no fears of poison, no suspicions of drugging,for the whole family prepared to partake' of the repast--the twobrigands, the old hag, the slatternly woman, and the dirty children.The stew was poured out into a huge wooden platter; they used noplates, but dipped with their fingers. The sight awakened a littledisgust in Bob, but he was too hungry to be squeamish, and hesucceeded in picking out various morsels which had not been touchedby the dirty hands of his companions.

  During the repast Bob noticed that they all kept looking, from timeto time, at him, and their furtive glances met his eyes wheneverhe turned them. The old woman sometimes seemed to devour him witha greedy, hungry sort of gaze, that was very horrible. It was anogrish look, and Bob's appetite was somewhat checked by the horrorthat he found in her eyes, and he was unable to have that free playwith the repast which he might otherwise have had.

  After the repast Bob once more went outside, hoping now to havethe opportunity which he had missed before. The dirty children wentoutside too. The two brigands followed, and occupied themselveswith various employments. Escape from such surroundings as thesewas impossible. At length one of the brigands mounted the ass,and rode away down the road by which he had come. This circumstanceseemed suspicious to Bob at first, but afterwards he thought thatperhaps he had gone to Salerno to get the ransom.

  After this, darkness came on so suddenly that he was amazed. Hehad already noticed that the twilight in Italy was very much lessthan that to which he had been accustomed at home, but had neverbeen so impressed by it as now. There seemed but a minute Betweenday and night It was quite bright, and then in a wonderfully shorttime it became dark.

  Upon this they all entered the house. Bob had to go with the rest.The room was feebly illuminated by a small oil lamp. Bob noticedthat they fastened the door with a huge chain. The fastening ofthat door was ominous to him, and the clanking of that chain smotehim to the heart, and echoed drearily within his soul. It seemedto him now like real imprisonment, shut in here with chains andbars, within this stone prison.

  Soon they all prepared to retire; and the brigand who had firstmet Bob beckoned to him, and taking the lamp, climbed the ladderto the upper story. Bob followed him. The upper story was abouteighteen feet above the lower one. On reaching it, Bob saw that itwas all one apartment. There was no bed here, or bedding, orfurniture of any description whatever. Sheep-skins hung from therafters, and dried mutton, and some vegetables. In one corner wasa pile of straw. To this the brigand pointed, and Bob went overthere. He understood that he was to pass the night on this pile ofstraw. Once more Bob looked all around as he stood there by thestraw. He saw the farther end of the room in dark shadows; he sawthe articles hanging from the rafters. He noticed, also, thatthere were two windows, one in front and the other in the rear. Inthese windows there were no sashes. They were open to the nightair. One glance sufficed to show him this.

  The brigand now said something which Bob supposed to mean goodnight, so he very civilly said the same in English. The brigandgrinned, and then descended the ladder, taking the lamp with him.

  On his departure, Bob's first act was to take off his boots. Hethen felt his way along the wall to the front window, for it wasso intensely dark inside and outside, that not a thing was visible.Reaching the window, he put his head out and looked down. He couldsee nothing. All was the very blackness of darkness. He looked upto the sky. All there was blackness also and darkness. Then helooked down again. If he had only some means of getting down, hecould venture the descent; but he had nothing. There were no sheetshere for him to tie together; he could not make a rope out of thatstraw strong enough to bear his weight. To jump down was not to bethought of, for he knew very well that at least twenty feet separatedhim from the ground.

  He turned away from the window in despair, and groping his way backto his rude bed, he sat upon the straw, and gave himself up to hisgloomy and despondent thoughts.