Part 10 (2/2)
Silvia, Clelia, and Jack, had pa.s.sed several days very pleasantly in the Castle of Lucullus, as the guests of Orazio and Irene.
Among Orazio's band were several well-connected men, whose friends in the city, unknown to the Government, sent them regularly sums of money, which enabled them to supply the table of their chief. The gallantry of the young Romans to the ”Pearl of Trastavere” was profound. Clelia would have been more glad to have had her Attilio at her side; and Silvia, the gentle Silvia, sighed when she remembered the uncertain fate of her Manlio; but the two ladies were nevertheless well pleased. As for Jack, he was the happiest being on earth, for Orazio had presented him with one of the carbines taken from the brigands who had a.s.saulted Manlio and his party; and it was inseparable from him in all his hunting and reconnoitring excursions in the woods.
One day Orazio took the sailor with him to seek a stag, and directed Jack to beat, whilst he placed himself in ambush. Their arrangements were so effective, that, in less than half an hour, a hart crossed Orazio's path. He fired, and wounded him, but not mortally; he therefore fired a second time, and, with a cry, the n.o.ble animal fell.
As he discharged his second shot, Orazio heard a rustling in the bushes near him. Listening for a second, he was convinced some one was approaching from the thickest part of the cover. Jack it could not be; he was too far off to have returned so quickly.
A suspicion that he was to be the object of an attack caused him to curse involuntarily as he looked at the empty barrels of his carbine. He was not mistaken; for, hardly had he placed the b.u.t.t-end of his gun upon the ground in order to reload it, than a head, more like that of some wild creature than a human being, was thrust from between the bushes.
To the valorous fear is a stranger, and our Roman, who was truly brave, sprang forward, dagger in hand, to confront the apparition, who, however, exclaimed, ”Hold!” in such a tone of authority and _sang-froid_, that Orazio fell back astonished, and paused.
The stranger was armed from head to foot, and had, as we have said, a striking appearance. His head, covered with a tangled ma.s.s of hair, white as snow, was surmounted by a Calabrian hat; his beard was grizzled, and as bristly as the chine of a wild boar, concealing almost the whole of his face, out of which, nevertheless, glared two fiery eyes. Held erect and placed upon magnificent shoulders, years had not bowed nor persecution subjugated that daring neck. His broad chest was covered by a dark velvet vest; around his waist was buckled the inseparable cartridge-box. A velvet coat, and leather gaiters b.u.t.toned at the knee, completed his costume.
”I am not your enemy, Orazio,” said Gasparo--for it was he--”but am come to warn you of an approaching danger, which might prove your ruin, and that of your friends.”
”That you are not my enemy, I am a.s.sured,” replied Orazio; ”for you might, had you chosen, have killed me before I found a chance of defending myself. I know well that Gasparo can handle a gun skillfully.”
”Yes,” answered the bandit, ”there was a time when I needed not to fire many second shots at deer or wild boar, but now my eyes are beginning to fail me; yet I shall not be behind my companions when the time for attacking the common enemy arrives. But let us talk a while, for I have important news to communicate to you.”
Seating himself upon the trunk of a fallen tree, Gasparo related to Orazio the projects of the Papal court, aided by Prince T------ at the head of his regiment; and how he himself had been sent for, from confinement, to a.s.sist the Prince in discovering the retreat of the ”Liberals;” also how, burning to be revenged upon the priestly Government, he had effected his escape, and now offered his services, and those of his adherents, to Orazio, on the simple condition of being accepted among the ”Liberals” as one of their band.
”But, Gasparo, you have so many serious crimes to answer for, if the reports about you be true, that we could not possibly admit you into our company,” observed Orazio.
”Crimes!” repeated the friendly brigand; ”I own no crimes but those of having purged society from some b.l.o.o.d.y and powerful villains and their wicked agents. Is that a crime? and is it a crime to have helped the needy and the oppressed? or do you believe that, if I had been a mere paltry criminal, the Government would have been in such awe of me, or that I should have been so beloved by the populace? The Government fears me because I have no sin upon my soul but resentment against its wickedness, and because it is conscious of having betrayed me in a cowardly and deceitful manner, and that, when I return once more to my free life, I shall make it pay dearly for its deceit and treachery.
”Yes, I have sometimes,” he continued, after a pause, ”made use of my carbine as an instrument of justice, in accordance with the laws of humanity, of righteousness. Can the priests say as much of their accursed scaffold?”
Jack arriving at this moment, Orazio explained by signs that the stranger was friendly; and, after making preparations to carry off the game, they returned with Gasparo to the castle, to equip themselves against the approaching a.s.sault.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII. THE a.s.sAULT
The Prince having ascertained from other spies--who proved more docile than Gasparo--that the band of ”Liberals” were occupying the castle of Lucullus, made active arrangements to besiege it, and, after approaching the place, disposed his men in such a manner that it might be surrounded on all sides, so that escape from it in any direction should be impossible. The brother of Irene--like many other generals--committed the error of spreading his men over a large s.p.a.ce of ground, and detaching a number of sentinels, pickets, videttes, and scouts, so as to leave himself with too small a body against a.s.sailants.
Not knowing the exact site of the castle, Prince
T------ had sent Gasparo on to explore, who took advantage of his freedom, as the reader is aware, to desert to the threatened little garrison. Impatient at his prolonged absence, the Prince commanded his officers to cause their men--about a thousand strong--to narrow the circle, and to a.s.sault the castle when each column arrived in sight of it. As might be expected, so complex a scheme proved unfortunate. The detachment to the north, commanded by the Prince in person, marched in a straight line for the tower; but the others, partly through the ignorance of the officers, and partly through the disinclination of the guides to begin the affray, instead of following the right path, struck out into the wood, and were soon in inextricable confusion, calling hither and thither to each other, and often returning to the point from which they started. In this way several hours were lost.
The Prince, with two hundred of his most serviceable men, arrived, however, within sight of the spot, which they only discovered about four o'clock in the afternoon, and then perceived, to their chagrin, that preparations for defense had been made. But reckoning on the numbers of his troops, and on the co-operation of the other detachments, he drew his sword, disposed of half his men as skirmishers, and keeping the other half as a reserve, ordered the signal to be given for attack.
Orazio and his young Romans could have avoided the combat by taking refuge in the subterranean pa.s.sages, but disdaining a retreat before measuring his strength with the Papal mercenaries, he determined to show fight, and upon returning to the castle with Gasparo, hastened to have the doors barricaded and holes made in the walls for the musketeers, while every necessary instrument was put in readiness for the siege.
The young leader hod ordered his men not to fire at the enemy so long as they were at a distance, but to wait until they were close under the walls, so that each might shoot down his man. The a.s.sailants advanced boldly on the castle, and the front rank of skirmishers had nearly reached the threshold, when a general discharge from the guns of those within laid nearly as many of the Papal troops on the ground as there were shots fired. This sudden discharge disconcerted those behind, who, seeing so many of their comrades fall, turned and fled. The Prince, with his column, was treading sharply on the heels of the skirmishers, and arrived at this juncture.
Orazio had taken the precaution to have all the spare fire-arms in the tower loaded and placed ready for use, and now commanded the domestics to help the ladies to reload them as soon as they were discharged. Jack, however, declined to remain with the women, as Orazio had proposed, and seizing his musket placed himself at the side of his preserver, following him like a shadow throughout the attack.
<script>