AN ETNA TRAGEDY.

Bush Advocate, Volume XVIII, Issue 520, 17 September 1906, Page 2

AN ETNA TRAGEDY.

OE, MABZ.UtETfO'S LAST STRUGGLE 1

The country about Catania, in Sicily, was greatly alarmed in 1866, by the threatening aspect of Mount Etna, which had been in a rather wild state of eruption for several days, and, in 'company with a number, of wonder-seeking tourists, I set out in the early morning of a fine spring day with the intention of obtaining as near a view of the crater as possible. We reached the foot of the volcano about noon, and here the majority of my companions deserted me. Still more of them fell off from the original determination by the time we reached our stoppingplace for the night, which was the miserable little hamlet of Aderno, situated about one-third of the distance up the side of the cone, and presenting the last human habitation before reaching Casa Termino, whence it was necessary to proceed on foot for the remainder of the ascent. When quitting Aderno on the following morning, but two companions accompanied me besides the guides. These were a tallj mild-mannered Italian, in clerical garb, who intimated that he was a visitor from Lombardy, impressed with the idea that he ought to have a near view of the great rival of Vesuvius before returning to the seclusion of his Mantuan home; and a curly, dark-browed and morose Mjessinian, of magnificent physique, and with an air half-military and half-brigand in his costume, which caused me no little disquiet, inasmuch as he vouchsafed no explanation of his sight-seeing motives, so strange in the resident of a city not far from the mountain's neighbourhood, and even declined an exchange of the commonest civilities. Suddenly a dreadful suspicion flashed aoross me, as we happened to be riding a little apart from our morose fellow tourist soon after quitting Aderno. "Suppose he were the noted brigand. Marzaretto himself, upon whose capture such a great reward is placed?" I exclaimed, in alow voice. My companion started, and turned on me a wild look. "Heaven forbid. he ejaculated. "But what more likely?" I continued, flashing my eyes speculatively on the Meesinian, who was moodily riding some distance ahead, and not far behind our two guides. "In dress and manner he might well be the brigand; Bianca, his wife, is known to have occupied a hut not far from the crater almost ever since his proscription; and his travelling with us in this manner would tend to lull the suspicions of the police and soldiery who are prosecuting the pursuit throughout all Sicily." "It can scarcely be possible," said my fellow tourist, though with a disturbed air that belied his words. "Marzaretto would not venture up the mountain in daylight, even to meet his wife; the risk would be too great." I then let the matter drop, but could not help recurring to the subject in my own thoughts as I kept my eyes from time to time fixed upon, the Messinian, and remarked that he was not infrequently observing us with suspicious and sinister looks. Marzaretto was at that time the most noted and, desperate brigand in all Sicily. Hjis career of five years in his dreaded profession had compassed almost every crime in. the calendar, including a number of frightful murders; and at last, with the majority of his band killed or in prison, he was a hunted fugitive amid his native hills, with every honest man's hand against him, and a heavy price set on h« capture, dead or alive. But so far ever} attempt at discovering his retreat hac been in vain. He was still known to be a disguisec wanderer in various^ parts oj but exactly where was the mystery. Th< haunts and fastnesses that had. known hW once were searched and. watched, bu they seemed to know him no more. At last it was discovered, soon after nr arrival at Messina, that his wife, Bianci Guardini —a beautiful Calabrian woman who had shared the brigand chieftain'i wild career "almost from the first, and \rai known to be passionately, attached to hin ---was' occupying a cabin; on the northeri and most densely-wooded slope of the vol cano, not a great distance from the era ter's edge. It was at che same time'surmised thai Marzaretto would very'" likely 1 be founc lurking in the vicinity of his wife's re treat, and just before my departure foi Catania there had been some talk ol sending a foree 1" thither, with the inten tion of unearthing^ him, but BK&ctly witt what reatilt I' had nbt r asce'rtkine^i. Now I 'that the' impression had got hole of me that our present herculean tourisi of the sombre face and half-military, Half ■ - • * - *»

nasK for a stealthy and disguised visit s.o hi:, wife's caLiii on the further eide <<f t!v mountain, I < .>uld not get rid of it. I kept ir.cu.ioiuxig my suspicions to this I'ii'oc-t ovor and over again to my companion, who finally chidded me with some severity, and even went so far as to hint that both our throats might be cut, in the event of my suspicions proving correct and at the same time reaching the ears of their subject. This quieted the outward expression of my thoughts pretty effectually, inasmuch as I was unequivocally a man of peace, and was by no means anxious to become the victim of outlawed malignity so many thousand miles from home. We reached Casa Termino shortly before noon. Here, after leaving our mules and partaking of some bread and cheese, which, with goat's milk, constituted the sole refreshment wnich the little taverno could boast, we crossed a tremendous ravine on a precarious footbridge, and, alpenstocks in hand, proceeded up the great rugged cone in a slanting direction, with one guide in advance and the other in the rear, and almost every step meeting with more or less difficulty by reason of the crumbling nature of the ground. Vegetation almost ceased a few hundred rods beyond Casa Termino, and our way was pursued 'upward in a zigzag direction brigand costume might be none other than the dreaded Marzaretto himself, intent upon utilising our peaceful company as a between great owfc-eropping- rocks and over scoria-crusted steeps; but still our progress was less trying and dangerous than I had tlioiight it would be. At last we reached a point above the clouds that had been hanging over the summit ever since the beginning of our journey. Then, for the first time, we saw the lazy volume of blue smoke, now and then lighted with a lurid glow, that was , constantly issuing out of one side of the crater"; and not long afterwards we succeeded in reaching the outer rim of the crater itself. Apart from the great breadth and apparently bottomless depth of 'the central orifice, the terrifying features of the vol-caF-r- were so few that I was greatly dieappointed. We were on the outer rim of a uasin or bowl, a good many rods away from the actual mouth of the vent, out of which the volume of smoke was continually rising, but the ground we stood on was not even uncomfortably hot; the intermediate fissures, which I had expected to find ablaze with volcanic vigour, were dry and harmless-looking, and I could scarcely realise how the entire vast basin at my feet could at any time have been the scene of stupendous and fiery activity for many consecutive days. I turned from a sort of reverie into which the spectacle of the crater had briefly plunged me, to perceive that my fellow-tourists had deserted me, while the two guides had thrown themselves at their length under the shadow "of a great rock, apparently with the intention of enjoying an undisturbed' siesta, until such time as their services should be brought into requisition for the homeward trip. In reply to my questions, I was given to understand by one of the lazy fellows that my companions had started to make a circuit of the outer rim, and I lost no time in following their example,

though neither of them was any longer visible. At last., however, after walking and climbing alternately for an hour or more I perceived my clerical friend making his way, with a. swiftness aud vigour in odd contrast with his furtive timidity of character as heretofore revealed to me, towards a bold collection of rocks on the northernmost end of the basin, and which, to my surprise, were interspersed with a considerable growth of pines and other trees. This portion of the crater's edge had apparently been spared by the eruptions and lava floods of centuries, and represented a sort of verdant overhang, which, in the midst of its blighted and scoriaceous surroundings, presented a singularly wild and beautiful aspect. As I quickened my steps to overtake him, I suddenly became alarmed by perceiving that the eruption of smoke and flashes from the central vent were increas--1 ing with startling rapidity. Ashes and cinders were also becoming mingled with the smoke. It seemed to me that the ground was growing hot beneath my feet; I and here and there, down in the surface of the intervening basin* several new fissures had abruptly opened, the ragged edges of which had a suggestively scorched and wicked look. Still, as the wind was blowing from the north, and thus wafting the smoke and f nines in the opposite direction, I hastened onward, intent upon overtaking the man. and with my curiosity a good deal aroused as to his object in making such headlong speed towards that rocky and pine-grown lodge on the northern side. Before I could overtake him, however, I paused in utter astonishment to perceive a woman suddenly make her appearance on the summit of the ledge, and regard his approach with evident anxiety. She certainly was the most superbly beautiful creature I had ever seen. Tall, robust, and graceful, her black hair, black eyes, and delicately-tinted complexion of clear olive were in admirable keeping with a many-hued, semi-masculine Albanian costume, which likewise set off her powerful but finely outlined figure to perfection ; and she stood there, amid the wild rocks and dark pines, like a vision of fabled times. "The brigand's wife — it must be she !" I muttered. Then, recovering from my first surprise, I still pushed on after my travelling companion, who. a moment later, much to my further surprise, suddenly vanished behind one of the rocks near which she was standing: and then she also darted back, and disappeared as abruptly as if she had dissolved into the air — which, by the way. was momentarily becoming more densely impregnated with the sulphurous fumes of the volcano. "He will be entrapped !" I exclaimed, under my breath, as I hurried forward, in obedience to an overpowering curiosity. "Our other fellow tourist, the Messinian, must have been the outlaw in disguise. It was for him she was on the watch ; the simple traveller will be lured into her den and perhaps murdered." But I had not more than reached the foot of the pine clump before I was overtaken by even a greater amazement. Who should at that instant suddenly start into view from a crevice almost at my side, but the Messinian himself? He

grasped a cocked pistol, which he had just snatched from its concealment in his vest; his eyes were blazing exultantly, and. oblivions or heedless of my presence, he seemed to be about to spring up among the rocks in pursuit of the man who had just been lost to sight in their midst. My desire to save the luckless fellow from the brigand's jealous rage for an instant overcame my fears for my own safety. "Hold ! Do not commit a murder, I beg of you !" I cried, laying my hand pleadingly on his arm. "Brigand as you are, his profession must yet be sacred in your Sicilian eyes!" "Saint Marco ! are you mad?" he ex-

claimed. "He is Marzaretto in dißgui.se. I have been with him all day to make sure of it. Away !" The Messinian shook off my grasp, and rushed in among the rocks, leaving me half incredulous, half amazed. A moment later there came the ringing report of a firearm, followed by another, still another, and then a good many more in rapid succession, and these were mingled with the fierce shouts and cries as of men in desperate conflict. It was not only curiosity that now impelled me to follow up among the rocks. No, there was a sudden glare and accession of awful heat just behind me, that would have urged me to dash anywhere in order to get over the outer rim of the. volcano's crater basin. I threw but one glance back over my shoulders as I sped upward. That glance showed me the entire central vent pouring forth a stupendous column of smoke and flame, mixed with fiery stones and ashen clouds, while the entire surrounding basin was rapidly becoming a lake of seething, boiling lava. Then, terified and astorunded, I rushed in among the rocks and pines, to be greeted by a scene of human contention more murderous than the hideous strife of natural elements, and almost equally aweinspiring. The scene was a wild mountain glen, with a little cabin in its centre. The beautiful woman whom I had seen but a short time before on the outer ledge was, with several brigand companions, engaged in a desperate struggle with a dozen or more carabineers, who had reached the summit by climbing up the northern slope but a short time before, while much nearer the outer edge was my clerical friend and the herculean Messinian (who wa6 none other than the captain of the royal carabineers) locked in such a hand-to-hand death struggle as it had never been my lot to conceive of. Marzaretto had thrown aside his disguise, and now appeared as a lithe, sinewy, and extremely active bravo, fully the equal of his opponent, if not his superior. Both were already wounded, for Marza retto's cheek was bleeding, and I could see a deep gash across the back of the captain's right hand, with which he vainly strove to get in a mortal blow with th© stiletto which it clutched, while the brigand was likewise armed with a knife. But the deadly scene was over almost before I could get the appalling features photographed upon my mind. The brigands near the cabin were just being overpowered by their more numerous antagonists. As the last man of them fell dead at the feet of the chieftain's wife who, revolver in one hand and stiletto in the other, stood like a beautiful lioness at bay, one of the assailants sprang towards her with lowered carbine, exclaiming : "Surrender, Bianca ! We do not seek your life or liberty !" With a wild laugh, she waved him on, and the next instant a final shot from her revolver stretched one of the parleyer's comrades dead in his tracks. Then, heedless of a wound which _she at that moment received in the neck, she dashed over tlie dead bodies of her comrades and through the carabineers who would have closed around her, and ran directly towards the spot where her husband and his opponent were locked in their death struggle, and with the entire band in full pursuit. Before they could overtake her, however, she snatched a pistol from the ground and released Marzaretto. by suddenly shooting his antagonist through the head. Then both she and her husband ran to the outermost edge, overlooking the volcano. For an. instant they stood there, side by side, with the terrible luridness of the eruption, for a background. Then there was a volley from the remorseless carbines, and, locked in each other's arms, they rolled over the ledge and were seen no more. The steadily-increasing heat was now so great that no one dare even peep over the brink to look into the awful lake of liquid lava into which they had fallen. Indeed the briefest lingering even in that vicinity was fraught with the utmost danger. I hurriedly explained the meaning of my presence to th© lieutenant of the carabineers, and obtained the privilege of accompanying 1 them as they carried their dead and ! -wounded comrades down the northern slope of the moiuitaini This was the last 'of the notorious Marzaretto and his predatory band; but their final extinction cost the Government a captain of carabineers and four soldiers killed outright and eight others badly wounded.