The Englishman seized his pistols, sprang from his carriage, and called upon John to follow him.  In the meantime, as the dragoons came forward, the robbers who were busy with the carriage quitted their spoil, formed themselves in the middle of the road, and taking deliberate aim, fired.  One of the dragoons fell, another was wounded, and the whole were for a moment checked and thrown in confusion.  The robbers loaded again in an instant.  The dragoons had discharged their carbines, but without apparent effect; they received another volley, which, though none fell, threw them again into confusion.  The robbers were loading a second time, when they saw the foot soldiers at hand.—­“Scampa via!” was the word.  They abandoned their prey, and retreated up the rocks; the soldiers after them.  They fought from cliff to cliff, and bush to bush, the robbers turning every now and then to fire upon their pursuers; the soldiers scrambling after them, and discharging their muskets whenever they could get a chance.  Sometimes a soldier or a robber was shot down, and came tumbling Among the cliffs.  The dragoons kept firing from below, whenever a robber came in sight.

The Englishman hastened to the scene of action, and the balls discharged at the dragoons had whistled past him as he advanced.  One object, however, engrossed his attention.  It was the beautiful Venetian lady in the hands of two of the robbers, who, during the confusion of the fight, carried her shrieking up the mountains.  He saw her dress gleaming among the bushes, and he sprang up the rocks to intercept the robbers as they bore off their prey.  The ruggedness of the steep and the entanglements of the bushes, delayed and impeded him.  He lost sight of the lady, but was still guided by her cries, which grew fainter and fainter.  They were off to the left, while the report of muskets showed that the battle was raging to the right.

At length he came upon what appeared to be a rugged footpath, faintly worn in a gully of the rock, and beheld the ruffians at some distance hurrying the lady up the defile.  One of them hearing his approach let go his prey, advanced towards him, and levelling the carbine which had been slung on his back, fired.  The ball whizzed through the Englishman’s hat, and carried with it some of his hair.  He returned the fire with one of his pistols, and the robber fell.  The other brigand now dropped the lady, and drawing a long pistol from his belt, fired on his adversary with deliberate aim; the ball passed between his left arm and his side, slightly wounding the arm.  The Englishman advanced and discharged his remaining pistol, which wounded the robber, but not severely.  The brigand drew a stiletto, and rushed upon his adversary, who eluded the blow, receiving merely a slight wound, and defending himself with his pistol, which had a spring bayonet.  They closed with one another, and a desperate struggle ensued.  The robber was a square-built, thick-set, man, powerful, muscular, and active.  The Englishman, though of larger frame and greater strength, was less active and less accustomed to athletic exercises and feats of hardihood, but he showed himself practised and skilled in the art of defence.  They were on a craggy height, and the Englishman perceived that his antagonist was striving to press him to the edge.