"'Yes, captain,' returned Carlini. 'At nine o'clock to-morrow Rita's
father will be here with the money.'--'It is well; in the meantime, we
will have a merry night; this young girl is charming, and does credit to
your taste. Now, as I am not egotistical, we will return to our comrades
and draw lots for her.'--'You have determined, then, to abandon her to
the common law?' said Carlini.
"'Why should an exception be made in her favor?'
"'I thought that my entreaties'--
"'What right have you, any more than the rest, to ask for an
exception?'--'It is true.'--'But never mind,' continued Cucumetto,
laughing, 'sooner or later your turn will come.' Carlini's teeth
clinched convulsively.
"'Now, then,' said Cucumetto, advancing towards the other bandits, 'are
you coming?'--'I follow you.'
"Cucumetto departed, without losing sight of Carlini, for, doubtless,
he feared lest he should strike him unawares; but nothing betrayed a
hostile design on Carlini's part. He was standing, his arms folded, near
Rita, who was still insensible. Cucumetto fancied for a moment the young
man was about to take her in his arms and fly; but this mattered little
to him now Rita had been his; and as for the money, three hundred
piastres distributed among the band was so small a sum that he cared
little about it. He continued to follow the path to the glade; but, to
his great surprise, Carlini arrived almost as soon as himself. 'Let us
draw lots! let us draw lots!' cried all the brigands, when they saw the
chief.
"Their demand was fair, and the chief inclined his head in sign of
acquiescence. The eyes of all shone fiercely as they made their demand,
and the red light of the fire made them look like demons. The names of
all, including Carlini, were placed in a hat, and the youngest of the
band drew forth a ticket; the ticket bore the name of Diovolaccio. He
was the man who had proposed to Carlini the health of their chief, and
to whom Carlini replied by breaking the glass across his face. A large
wound, extending from the temple to the mouth, was bleeding profusely.
Diovalaccio, seeing himself thus favored by fortune, burst into a loud
laugh. 'Captain,' said he, 'just now Carlini would not drink your health
when I proposed it to him; propose mine to him, and let us see if he
will be more condescending to you than to me.' Every one expected an
explosion on Carlini's part; but to their great surprise, he took a
glass in one hand and a flask in the other, and filling it,--'Your
health, Diavolaccio,' said he calmly, and he drank it off, without his
hand trembling in the least. Then sitting down by the fire, 'My
supper,' said he; 'my expedition has given me an appetite.'--'Well done,
Carlini!' cried the brigands; 'that is acting like a good fellow;' and
they all formed a circle round the fire, while Diavolaccio disappeared.
Carlini ate and drank as if nothing had happened. The bandits looked on
with astonishment at this singular conduct until they heard footsteps.
They turned round, and saw Diavolaccio bearing the young girl in his
arms. Her head hung back, and her long hair swept the ground. As they
entered the circle, the bandits could perceive, by the firelight, the
unearthly pallor of the young girl and of Diavolaccio. This apparition
was so strange and so solemn, that every one rose, with the exception
of Carlini, who remained seated, and ate and drank calmly. Diavolaccio
advanced amidst the most profound silence, and laid Rita at the
captain's feet. Then every one could understand the cause of the
unearthly pallor in the young girl and the bandit. A knife was plunged
up to the hilt in Rita's left breast. Every one looked at Carlini;
the sheath at his belt was empty. 'Ah, ah,' said the chief, 'I now
understand why Carlini stayed behind.' All savage natures appreciate a
desperate deed. No other of the bandits would, perhaps, have done the
same; but they all understood what Carlini had done. 'Now, then,' cried
Carlini, rising in his turn, and approaching the corpse, his hand on the
butt of one of his pistols, 'does any one dispute the possession of
this woman with me?'--'No,' returned the chief, 'she is thine.' Carlini
raised her in his arms, and carried her out of the circle of firelight.
Cucumetto placed his sentinels for the night, and the bandits wrapped
themselves in their cloaks, and lay down before the fire. At midnight
the sentinel gave the alarm, and in an instant all were on the alert. It
was Rita's father, who brought his daughter's ransom in person. 'Here,'
said he, to Cucumetto, 'here are three hundred piastres; give me back
my child. But the chief, without taking the money, made a sign to him
to follow. The old man obeyed. They both advanced beneath the trees,
through whose branches streamed the moonlight. Cucumetto stopped at
last, and pointed to two persons grouped at the foot of a tree.
"'There,' said he, 'demand thy child of Carlini; he will tell thee
what has become of her;' and he returned to his companions. The old man
remained motionless; he felt that some great and unforeseen misfortune
hung over his head. At length he advanced toward the group, the meaning
of which he could not comprehend. As he approached, Carlini raised his
head, and the forms of two persons became visible to the old man's eyes.
A woman lay on the ground, her head resting on the knees of a man,
who was seated by her; as he raised his head, the woman's face became
visible. The old man recognized his child, and Carlini recognized the
old man. 'I expected thee,' said the bandit to Rita's father.--'Wretch!'
returned the old man, 'what hast thou done?' and he gazed with terror on
Rita, pale and bloody, a knife buried in her bosom. A ray of
moonlight poured through the trees, and lighted up the face of the
dead.--'Cucumetto had violated thy daughter,' said the bandit; 'I loved
her, therefore I slew her; for she would have served as the sport of
the whole band.' The old man spoke not, and grew pale as death. 'Now,'
continued Carlini, 'if I have done wrongly, avenge her;' and withdrawing
the knife from the wound in Rita's bosom, he held it out to the old man
with one hand, while with the other he tore open his vest.--'Thou hast
done well!' returned the old man in a hoarse voice; 'embrace me, my
son.' Carlini threw himself, sobbing like a child, into the arms of his
mistress's father. These were the first tears the man of blood had
ever wept. 'Now,' said the old man, 'aid me to bury my child.' Carlini
fetched two pickaxes; and the father and the lover began to dig at the
foot of a huge oak, beneath which the young girl was to repose. When
the grave was formed, the father kissed her first, and then the lover;
afterwards, one taking the head, the other the feet, they placed her
in the grave. Then they knelt on each side of the grave, and said the
prayers of the dead. Then, when they had finished, they cast the earth
over the corpse, until the grave was filled. Then, extending his
hand, the old man said; 'I thank you, my son; and now leave me
alone.'--'Yet'--replied Carlini.--'Leave me, I command you.' Carlini
obeyed, rejoined his comrades, folded himself in his cloak, and soon
appeared to sleep as soundly as the rest. It had been resolved the night
before to change their encampment. An hour before daybreak, Cucumetto
aroused his men, and gave the word to march. But Carlini would not quit
the forest, without knowing what had become of Rita's father. He went
toward the place where he had left him. He found the old man suspended
from one of the branches of the oak which shaded his daughter's grave.
He then took an oath of bitter vengeance over the dead body of the one
and the tomb of the other. But he was unable to complete this oath, for
two days afterwards, in an encounter with the Roman carbineers, Carlini
was killed. There was some surprise, however, that, as he was with his
face to the enemy, he should have received a ball between his shoulders.
That astonishment ceased when one of the brigands remarked to his
comrades that Cucumetto was stationed ten paces in Carlini's rear when
he fell. On the morning of the departure from the forest of Frosinone he
had followed Carlini in the darkness, and heard this oath of vengeance,
and, like a wise man, anticipated it. They told ten other stories of
this bandit chief, each more singular than the other. Thus, from Fondi
to Perusia, every one trembles at the name of Cucumetto.
"These narratives were frequently the theme of conversation between
Luigi and Teresa. The young girl trembled very much at hearing the
stories; but Vampa reassured her with a smile, tapping the butt of his
good fowling-piece, which threw its ball so well; and if that did not
restore her courage, he pointed to a crow, perched on some dead branch,
took aim, touched the trigger, and the bird fell dead at the foot of the
tree. Time passed on, and the two young people had agreed to be married
when Vampa should be twenty and Teresa nineteen years of age. They were
both orphans, and had only their employers' leave to ask, which had been
already sought and obtained. One day when they were talking over their
plans for the future, they heard two or three reports of firearms,
and then suddenly a man came out of the wood, near which the two young
persons used to graze their flocks, and hurried towards them. When he
came within hearing, he exclaimed. 'I am pursued; can you conceal me?'
They knew full well that this fugitive must be a bandit; but there is an
innate sympathy between the Roman brigand and the Roman peasant and the
latter is always ready to aid the former. Vampa, without saying a word,
hastened to the stone that closed up the entrance to their grotto, drew
it away, made a sign to the fugitive to take refuge there, in a retreat
unknown to every one, closed the stone upon him, and then went and
resumed his seat by Teresa. Instantly afterwards four carbineers, on
horseback, appeared on the edge of the wood; three of them appeared to
be looking for the fugitive, while the fourth dragged a brigand prisoner
by the neck. The three carbineers looked about carefully on every side,
saw the young peasants, and galloping up, began to question them. They
had seen no one. 'That is very annoying,' said the brigadier; for the
man we are looking for is the chief.'--'Cucumetto?' cried Luigi and
Teresa at the same moment.
"'Yes,' replied the brigadier; 'and as his head is valued at a thousand
Roman crowns, there would have been five hundred for you, if you had
helped us to catch him.' The two young persons exchanged looks. The
brigadier had a moment's hope. Five hundred Roman crowns are three
thousand lire, and three thousand lire are a fortune for two poor
orphans who are going to be married.
"'Yes, it is very annoying,' said Vampa; 'but we have not seen him.'
"Then the carbineers scoured the country in different directions, but
in vain; then, after a time, they disappeared. Vampa then removed the
stone, and Cucumetto came out. Through the crevices in the granite he
had seen the two young peasants talking with the carbineers, and guessed
the subject of their parley. He had read in the countenances of Luigi
and Teresa their steadfast resolution not to surrender him, and he drew
from his pocket a purse full of gold, which he offered to them. But
Vampa raised his head proudly; as to Teresa, her eyes sparkled when she
thought of all the fine gowns and gay jewellery she could buy with this
purse of gold.
"Cucumetto was a cunning fiend, and had assumed the form of a brigand
instead of a serpent, and this look from Teresa showed to him that she
was a worthy daughter of Eve, and he returned to the forest, pausing
several times on his way, under the pretext of saluting his protectors.
Several days elapsed, and they neither saw nor heard of Cucumetto. The
time of the Carnival was at hand. The Count of San-Felice announced a
grand masked ball, to which all that were distinguished in Rome were
invited. Teresa had a great desire to see this ball. Luigi asked
permission of his protector, the steward, that she and he might be
present amongst the servants of the house. This was granted. The ball
was given by the Count for the particular pleasure of his daughter
Carmela, whom he adored. Carmela was precisely the age and figure of
Teresa, and Teresa was as handsome as Carmela. On the evening of the
ball Teresa was attired in her best, her most brilliant ornaments in her
hair, and gayest glass beads,--she was in the costume of the women of
Frascati. Luigi wore the very picturesque garb of the Roman peasant
at holiday time. They both mingled, as they had leave to do, with the
servants and peasants.
"The festa was magnificent; not only was the villa brilliantly
illuminated, but thousands of colored lanterns were suspended from
the trees in the garden; and very soon the palace overflowed to the
terraces, and the terraces to the garden-walks. At each cross-path was
an orchestra, and tables spread with refreshments; the guests stopped,
formed quadrilles, and danced in any part of the grounds they pleased.
Carmela was attired like a woman of Sonnino. Her cap was embroidered
with pearls, the pins in her hair were of gold and diamonds, her girdle
was of Turkey silk, with large embroidered flowers, her bodice and skirt
were of cashmere, her apron of Indian muslin, and the buttons of her
corset were of jewels. Two of her companions were dressed, the one as a
woman of Nettuno, and the other as a woman of La Riccia. Four young men
