Lucia put her fingers to her lip to caution silence, and his smile changed to a look of sudden anxiety.

“What is it?” he demanded.

“Don’t make any noise,” Lucia warned.  “Listen to me.”

She told him all that she had discovered during the night.

“Are you sure of what you say?” the soldier questioned her seriously.

“Oh, yes, sir, I tell you I crawled out and listened.  The sound was very near.”

“Can you show me the place?”

“Yes, yes, I have just come from there, but it is a slippery climb.”  Lucia looked at him interrogatively.

The man nodded.  “Never mind that, lead the way.”

Lucia did not hesitate, but hurried back along the rocks, choosing the safest footholds and sometimes leaving her companion far behind.

When she reached the little grassy plateau, she stopped and pointed. 
“It is above here, sir.”

She started to ascend, and the soldier followed in silence.  When they reached the cave she pointed to the back wall and said:  “Listen there.”

The soldier was so tall that he had to stoop down before he could enter, but he was very careful to be quiet and not disturb the still sleeping Beppi.

He put his ear to the wall and Lucia watched him excitedly.  By the expression of his face she knew he was hearing the “rat, tat, tat.”

“Can you show me the place where you thought you heard the explosion?” he whispered.

Lucia nodded and beckoned to him to follow.  In her eagerness she forgot that he could not climb as nimbly as she could, and she was on the roof of the cave before he had started to ascend.

It was fortunate that she was, for not ten feet ahead of her, crawling along the ground, his helmet shining in the sun, was a soldier in the Austrian uniform.

CHAPTER V

IN THE TOOL SHED

At sight of her he jumped to his feet.

“Halt!” he commanded, unnecessarily, for Lucia was far too frightened to move.

She was thinking of the soldier whose head would appear at any moment over the ledge of rock behind, and her one wish was to stop him.

“I won’t move, sir!” she cried loudly, “I see you have a big gun and I am all alone.”  She spoke in Italian, but the Austrian seemed to understand.

“What are you doing prowling around here at this time of day?” he demanded angrily, speaking to her in her own language.

“Oh, sir, I am lost,” Lucia replied, not daring to look below her.  “My goat wandered away in the storm and I came out to find her, and now I am very, very far away from home.”

She walked towards the man as she spoke.  She was terrified for fear he would discover the cave below her.

“Where did you sleep?” he demanded.

“Oh, I have not slept, sir.  See my dress it is wet from the rain, there is no shelter anywhere, and the wind and the rain frightened me so I did not know where I was, and I was afraid to stay still.”