Part 7 (1/2)

His fears, however, were unfounded; for now an event occurred which e in the course of his flight Thus far they had been going along the main road Noever, they caht, apparently to the htest pause or hesitation, but with undiht of one familiar with the way, the ass turned from the main road, and ran into this side road

The anxiety and fear which Bob had thus far felt were trifling, indeed, compared with the emotions that now seized upon hiether cut off from his friends He knew all the time that they were behind him, and that at the worst he could not be carried farther than Salerno, and that they would come up with him there, and thus they would all be reunited before dark

But noas suddenly carried off helplessly from the main road, and in a ?

When would the ass stop?

Before him arose the mountainous country, not radual, in other places abrupt Cultivated spots appeared here and there, and white villages, and old castles It was not, however, an inviting country, and the nearer he drew to it the less he liked it The road here was not so broad, and smooth, and easy as the one he had just left, but was narrow and rough At length he reached the skirts of the an to ascend After a while it grew soher And now Bob found, to his i to tell upon the tough sinews of the fiery animal which he bestrode The ass could not keep up such a pace while ascending the an to look about for a soft place, where he could jump

But by this ti the mountains On one side the hill rose, wooded in some places, in others rocky; while on the other side it went down steep for about thirty, feet, where a mountain torrent brawled, and dashed over its rocky bed It was about here that the ass slackened his pace sufficiently for Bob to jump from his back; but just here it was i soh to run such a risk as that As the road went on through the pass, it grew narrower and steeper, quite ies, and Only fit for travellers on horse or foot The farther on it went, the rougher and steeper it beca No houses appeared, except at a great distance, and those which did thus appear seemed separated by deep valleys from the place where he was

Bob could have easily disht with some dismay upon the distance that lay between hiht that his friends must have passed beyond the place where he turned off, and that if he did go back he could not hope toa distance on foot was too formidable a task just now He hoped that the ass had so his hoe in the ht be able to obtain a ht was over

He hoped thug to find help--to get a horse or an ass, and also so to eat, and thus set forth for Salerno As the road wound on, and as he traversed it, he looked eagerly at every projecting cliff before him; and as he rounded each projection he still looked forward eagerly in search of the place, whether house or village, where he ht obtain the help of which he stood in need But the road continued lonely He saw no houses, no villages, in its vicinity He s, whether men or cattle It was the loneliest path he had ever traversed

At last he rounded a projecting spur of theA little distance off there was a bridge, which crossed the torrent Beyond this the mountains sloped away in an easy declivity, where appeared several houses On the other side of the bridge were twothat the ass ht once more take it into his head to run, he at once leaped off the anie The ass, freed froht, trotted briskly away, and Bob followed The noise of e roused the two ht him One of them then held him, and the other walked towards Bob

As the latter approached, Bob noticed that he was dirty and bearded, and rather shabby He had a coarse jacket, with brass buttons; a red flannel shi+rt, which was open, and disclosed a hairy breast; and coarse leather breeches with leggings A conical felt hat was on the top of his head Thusfar he was simply the counterpart of hundreds of other peasants in this part of the country, shepherds, drovers, wine-sellers, etc, such as he had encountered during his drive But in one iun in his hand

This gun at once made him seem more than a simple peasant It made a profound impression upon Bob And as the Italian approached, with his eyes fixed on the new coe and very natural suspicion was roused in Bob's ht ”I'-place of the Brigands--The captive Boy--The hideous Household--The horrible old Hag--The slattern Woman--The dirty Children--The old Crone and the evil Eye--Despondency of Bob--Is Escape Possible?--Night-Iht froand!

Such was the appalling thought that came to the mind of Bob, as the Italian advanced towards, him As he came closer, his face became more distinctly revealed It was not a face which reassured hileamed black and fiery eyes, a skin browned by the hot, Italian sun, and white teeth, that glistened froled beard and moustache,--such was the face that appeared It seemed an evil and sinister face--a face that revealed a cruel and treacherous soul No wonder that Bob's heart sank within him as he saw himself confronted by one like this

The Italian stood looking at hi

Bob could not understand hins that he had lost his way, and that the donkey had run aith him He also pointed to himself, and said, ”Americano,” and waved his hand in the direction of the road up which he had come, and said, ”Salerno” This was very well for Bob, especially when his anxiety of ible to the Italian He looked at Bob carefully, and finally seemed to make out an explanation of his appearance, which satisfied him, after which he e Bob's first is could carry hiun checked the iand, who had caught the ass, stood stroking it and exaether a changed animal, different far from that wild beast that had torn Bob away fro these dread associates This other eneral appearance as the first one His beard was reddish, and his eyes were seneral expression of his face was un, yet he see together for so to the other Bob's account of hins that had beenthe subject of Bob and the ass, for they looked at hi their conversation At length they seemed to have made up their ; andthe ass with the i shot at prevented him He therefore followed as before

There was in this place a circular sweep of hills enclosing a valley, through which the brook ran Crossing this by a bridge, the road wound along a gentle declivity, and not very far aere one or two houses One of these o stories high, ht once have been a wind-e of the torrent, and the door-as towards the road The other buildings seerassy declivity spread away till it reached a steeper ascent, and here there began a forest which covered the mountain-sides

Towards this old mill Bob was led by his captors As he drew near he saw some dirty children at play, in front of the door-way Soon an old woer The old woray one, and her face was pinched, and so seaht be over a hundred years old The other woman was very dirty and slatternly She had a dirty baby in her arreasy and sht once have been white, was on her head The women and children were all barefoot

As Bob approached, they all stared at him with the most intense curiosity; the tomen stood still and stared; the children stopped their play and stared; and there was solitter of all these fiery, black, Italian eyes which seemed horrible to poor Bob, and an to talk to the wo about Bob and the ass; and as they talked the eyes of all of them were most of the tilared for a tith the ass seemed to offer superior attractions to them, for they made a rush at it, climbed on its back, pulled at its ears and tail, and tore to say, this animal, that had punished poor Bob's little trick so fearfully, showed no resentment whatever at his present treater the fiery wild ass, but the very living i upon the scene with his heart sinking within hih a spirit and too stout a heart to give up so soon; and as he stood there, in the power of this evil company, he turned over in his mind a hundred different modes of escape If he could once effect his escape froo back by the mountain path But how could he escape? That was the difficulty Thus far, to his amazement, they had not inflicted any cruelty upon hi to their contempt for him, and their conviction that he would not venture to fly

All that Bob had ever heard about the ands now came to his mind--how they detain their prisoners subject to a ransoh until the ranso upon them the most horrible cruelties To Bob it now seemed certain that they intended to hold him for ransom, and that they would treat him well till he should be freed As he felt certain about obtaining his ransoan to feel less anxious, and his bold and enterprising spirit began to conceive various ways by which he th one of the er of the woun remained, and talked for a little while with the old wolances which they threw at him, that he was the subject of their conversation To him the old woman was by far the most obnoxious of the whole crowd The slatternly woands,--all these were bad enough; but the old woination There was in her watery eyes, in the innumerable wrinkles of her leathery skin, in her toothless jaws, so so uncanny that he almost shuddered She reminded him of some of those witches of whoes, were supposed to have dealings with the evil one, and whose looks certainly sustained such a supposition To Bob, at that tis with the evil one, that one was the old hag behind hiht of her as a witch; and if she had at that time put on a peaked hat, straddled a brooh the air, it would scarcely have surprised hiand went off, and the old woman came up to Bob