Volume I Part 36 (1/2)
”Nonsense! who is speaking of dying? Think of our rescue It is not safe to reet out of this hole the better Where is this cell?”
”Ah, if I knew that! I have no matches, and, therefore, could not very well fix where I was”
”Good; ill find out”
Bartoloht illu prospect
”Hurowled the major, ”it was, after all, better down there”
”But there, also, you did not find an exit”
”True; but I was, perhaps, aard You may do better Let us descend”
”As if that was so easy If one holds the scarf, the other can descend, and that's the end of the chapter,” said Aslitta, calht the major, after a few moments'
deliberation
”How so?”
”Well, I don't ao under, ive Aurora a small annuity, will you not, marquis, should she fall in need, and you will tell her that I died for my country? You, on the other hand, must preserve yourself What would become of Italy without you? Come, I will hold the scarf, and you can descend by it The more I consider it, the surer I am that there's a canal down there, by et into the moat of the fortress Well, won't you do it?”
”No,” replied Aslitta, with emotion ”I would be a scoundrel to save myself at your expense”
”But there's no other way Were I in your place I would not hesitate an instant Think of your friends; you are to lead the, they are lost”
Tears rose to Aslitta's eyes, but he resisted no longer, and, cordially shaking the major's hand, he said: ”Friend, I accept your sacrifice, and if I find an exit, I will save you”
It seemed to Bartoloained, and he was almost overcome with emotion But he quickly recovered when he heard footsteps close at hand, and urged Aslitta to leave
The young man embraced the major
”Thanks, in the na the scarf around his waist, he swung himself from the rim of the well
Bartoloht Aslitta must now have reached the bottoo of the silken stuff, a key was turned in the lock and the door opened
The lance at those who entered, he almost uttered a loud ejaculation, for before hiht so,” e; ”some cursed chance has rescued him Such a scoundrel's soul is too bad for the devil hihly exclaie Bartolomeo's escape on him, and he was in a very bad humor
As the major did not stir, Benedetto uttered an oath and cried:
”Are you deaf, Aslitta?”
He then snatched a torch from one of the soldiers who acco he started when a well-known voice tauntingly said:
”Good-day, Andrea Cavalcanti”