I told the captain so, and assured him, that so extravagant a sum would never be granted; that I was neither friend or relative of the prince, but a mere artist, employed to execute certain paintings.  That I had nothing to offer as a ransom but the price of my labors; if this were not sufficient, my life was at their disposal:  it was a thing on which I sat but little value.

I was the more hardy in my reply, because I saw that coolness and hardihood had an effect upon the robbers.  It is true, as I finished speaking the captain laid his hand upon his stiletto, but he restrained himself, and snatching the letter, folded it, and ordered me, in a peremptory tone, to address it to the prince.  He then despatched one of the laborers with it to Tusculum, who promised to return with all possible speed.

The robbers now prepared themselves for sleep, and I was told that I might do the same.  They spread their great cloaks on the ground, and lay down around me.  One was stationed at a little distance to keep watch, and was relieved every two hours.  The strangeness and wildness of this mountain bivouac, among lawless beings whose hands seemed ever ready to grasp the stiletto, and with whom life was so trivial and insecure, was enough to banish repose.  The coldness of the earth and of the dew, however, had a still greater effect than mental causes in disturbing my rest.  The airs wafted to these mountains from the distant Mediterranean diffused a great chilliness as the night advanced.  An expedient suggested itself.  I called one of my fellow prisoners, the laborers, and made him lie down beside me.  Whenever one of my limbs became chilled I approached it to the robust limb of my neighbor, and borrowed some of his warmth.  In this way I was able to obtain a little sleep.

Day at length dawned, and I was roused from my slumber by the voice of the chieftain.  He desired me to rise and follow him.  I obeyed.  On considering his physiognomy attentively, it appeared a little softened.  He even assisted me in scrambling up the steep forest among rocks and brambles.  Habit had made him a vigorous mountaineer; but I found it excessively toilsome to climb those rugged heights.  We arrived at length at the summit of the mountain.

Here it was that I felt all the enthusiasm of my art suddenly awakened; and I forgot, in an instant, all perils and fatigues at this magnificent view of the sunrise in the midst of the mountains of Abruzzi.  It was on these heights that Hannibal first pitched his camp, and pointed out Rome to his followers.  The eye embraces a vast extent of country.  The minor height of Tusculum, with its villas, and its sacred ruins, lie below; the Sabine hills and the Albanian mountains stretch on either hand, and beyond Tusculum and Frescati spreads out the immense Campagna, with its line of tombs, and here and there a broken aqueduct stretching across it, and the towers and domes of the eternal city in the midst.