This game kept up for a long time.  The men who were in sight dropped what they were doing and made an admiring circle; even the Captain had to smile.  Lucia wanted to laugh outright, but she managed to keep her face set in grave lines.

At last the soldier gave up the chase and retired among the jeers of his comrades to the side lines.  The Captain saw an opportunity to amuse his men, and perhaps end their grumbling for the time being.  He offered a reward to the man that could catch the goat.

First one soldier and then another attempted it, but none of them succeeded.  After a while the fun of the chase wore off for Garibaldi, and she became angry.  She had a little trick of butting that had won her Beppi’s dislike, and she used it to the discomfiture of the Austrian army.

Lucia saw them one after another rub their shins and their knees, for although Garibaldi did not have horns, her head was very, very hard indeed, and she was afraid that some one of them might grow angry and hurt her pet.  She looked at the officer and pointed to the goat.

“I can catch her,” she said simply.

“Well, do it then,” the Captain replied.

Lucia called softly and made a queer clicking noise.  Garibaldi stopped butting, and walked soberly over to her.  She smiled good-naturedly at the men, and tied the rope that one of them handed to her around the goat’s neck.  One of the soldiers pointed to a tree behind the shed, and she tied the rope securely around it Garibaldi protested mildly, but she patted her and left her lying contentedly in the mud.

She took time to look hastily about her before returning to the shed.  The tree to which the goat was tied was on the edge of a steep hill that fell away abruptly from the little clearing.

Lucia looked down it, and could hardly believe her eyes; for there, far below, was a silver stream glistening in the sunshine, and she realized with a sense of thankfulness that it could be no other than the little river that flowed below the west wall of Cellino, and right under the windows of the Convent.  If she could only get away, it would be an easier matter to go back that way, than over the dangerous route by which she had come.  But she was not very eager to return at once, for the idea that had come to her earlier in the day still tempted her to wait and listen.

When she returned to the shed the Captain was nowhere in sight, and one of the soldiers pointed to the open door.  She nodded and walked in, the key grated in the lock, and she was once more a prisoner.

CHAPTER VII

THE BEGGAR

As the sun rose higher, a quiet settled over the clearing.  The men talked and smoked, and the Captain read a newspaper at the door of his dugout.

No one bothered Lucia, and she kept very quiet.  She had had nothing to eat since the night before and she was very hungry, but she would not for the world ask her enemies for food.  She was not above accepting it, however, when a little before noon one of the soldiers brought her a hard and tasteless biscuit and a cup of water.  She ate greedily, and then tired out from so much excitement she fell asleep.