“Stay, man!” I shouted, throwing myself from my horse; “it’s a woman! touch her if you dare!” and then seeing the man’s eye gleam with indignation, I added, “Brave soldiers, such as you have proved yourself to be, do not kill women; though your traducers say you do, do not give them cause to speak truth.  I will be responsible for this woman’s safety.  Here, to make it sure, you had better strap us together.”  I piqued myself exceedingly on this happy inspiration, whereby I secured an arm-in-arm walk, of a peculiar kind it is true, with Valeria, and indeed my readiness to sacrifice myself seemed rather to astonish the soldier, who hesitated.  However, his comrade, whose horse had been shot in the ditch, now came up, and seconded my proposal, as I offered him a mount on mine.

“How on earth am I to let you escape, dear Valeria?” I whispered, giving her a sort of affectionate nudge:  the position of our arms prevented my squeezing hers, as I could have wished, and the two troopers kept behind us, watching us, I thought, suspiciously.

“It is quite impossible now—­don’t attempt it,” she answered; “perhaps there may be an opportunity later.”

“Was that Croppo who got away?” I asked.  “Yes.  He could not get his cowardly men to stand on that hill.”

“What a bother those men are behind, dearest!  Let me pretend to scratch my nose with this hand that is tied to yours, which I can thus bring to my lips.”

I accomplished this manoeuvre rather neatly, but parties now came straggling in from other directions, and I was obliged to give up whispering and become circumspect.  They all seemed rather astonished at our group, and the captain laughed heartily as he rode up and called out, “Who have you got tied to you there, caro mio?”

“Croppo’s wife.  I had her tied to me for fear she should escape; besides, she is not bad-looking.”

“What a prize!” he exclaimed.  “We have made a tolerable haul this time,—­twenty prisoners in all—­among them the priest of the band.  Our colonel has just arrived, so I am in luck—­he will be delighted.  See, the prisoners are being brought up to him now:  but you had better remount and present yours in a less singular fashion.”

When we reached the colonel we found him examining the priest.  His breviary contained various interesting notes, written on some of the fly-leaves.  For instance:—­

“Administered extreme unction to A—–­, shot by Croppo’s orders:  my share ten scudi.

“Ditto, ditto, to R—–­, hung by Croppo’s order; my share two scudi.

“Ditto, ditto, to S—–­, roasted by Croppo’s order, to make him name an agent to bring his ransom:  overdone by mistake, and died—­so got nothing.

“Ditto, ditto, to P—–­, executed by the knife by Croppo’s order, for disobedience.

“M—–­ and F—–­, and D—–­, three new members, joined to-day:  confessed them, and received the usual fees.”