RESCUED FROM THE BRIGANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2358, 4 May 1899, Page 56

RESCUED FROM THE BRIGANDS.

(Selection from "Among the Brigands," by A, Beritsford, in the Argosy for March.)

Revolver and clasp knife were in my hand. The difficulty was to attract Johns attention without alarming that of his keepers. An unguarded movement on his part might ruin all. I could think of no plan, and time pressed. And the dog— he might return at any moment, and then— — I grew sick at heart. Not one of the brigands moved ; I suppose they were all more or less intoxicated. Some were snoring heavily. The one who had overtaken us on our way lay quite close to the entrance ; I- recognised him at once. He was to be feared, indeed, for he at least was 1 not drunk. A noise in the bushes behind made us cower. The dog! I thought I should have fainted. But no, it was only a hedgehog, or some other kind of animal, probably in search of prey. Once more I breathed freely and dared raise my head. John's companion turned slightly over. By the flickering glare I saw that the bond uniting them was out a cord. That was in our favour at any rate, for had it been a chain _, I determined to wait no longer. Of two risks, John's involuntary start and the dog's return, one must be run. I wonder now how I ever had the courage to do it. Slowly I raised myself from my crouching posture, stretching out one hand with the knife and revolver, while with the other I steadied my trembling frame. My heart was on my lips, my soul in my eyes. At that very instant John's gaze met mine. A rapid rising of the head told me I had been recognised, but the motion, slight as it was, must have disturbed the sleeper next him, for he moved uneasily for a moment and then turned heavily over. I cowered down once more. When I ventured at last to look up again, I met John's eyes fixed in anxious, inquiring gaze. . It was as if ha had seen a vision. This time I signed to him with the clasp knife, and at the same moment Annetta drew me down beside her once more. Taking the weapon mutely from my hand, she glided to the ground, and pointed to her own bare feet. Yes, she was right, she would accomplish the perilous feat better than 1 could hope to do. And yet But she allowed me no time; she crept noiselessly along and disappeared round the end oi the rocky barrier. I did not dare look up, but closed my eyes, and with reeling brain and singing ears, throbbing heart and sickening soul, passed the moment which was to decide the fate of us all, and. which dragged itself out to a very centuiy ot anguish and suspense. A light touch on my arm. I started up. John was beside me. We set out, silently at first, cautiously, every step studied, every movement measured. But as the distance behind us increased, and as the sense of freedom grew upon us, our precautions fell away one by one, and our voices resumed their natural tone. Then, at last, as the village rose before us in the faint light of the breaking dawn I flung myself into John's outstretched arms and broke into a fit of crying, such as, perhaps, you may faintly imagine ; but which I am utterly unable to describe. In that moment a foretaste of paradise was mine.

I have little more to tell you. We made a comfortable provision for old Annetta, packed up our trunks, and without an hour's delay set off from a place which 1 sincerely hope never to set eyes upon again. There was much useless excitement and much official fever in certain quarters; we had to sign endless declarations, bersaglieri and carabinieri were sent out by scores, and there it all ended. It is the way of all things in dear, dirty, incomprehensible Italy, whose loveliness must be seen to be understood, and whose people no amount oi study will ever enable you to understand. There, I have done. From memory John made me a water-colour drawing of the little pool, the blasted tree and the distant slumbering waters. "A remembrance of Roccanera," he said, as he presented it to me on my birthday. As if I needed any "remembrance" of a place in which he so innocently suffered himself to fall "Among the Brigands."