She clenched her fists and tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but without success, the tears came in spite of her and in her disappointment she threw herself down on the bed and sobbed.  Fear got the better of her, and in an agony of mind she imagined every possible harm to Beppi.

But she was not allowed to stay long in that state of mind, for suddenly the guns broke into a terrible roar.  The air was black with smoke and the house trembled and rocked under her.

She jumped up and ran to the window.  Great volumes of smoke arose to the east, and higher geysers of dirt and rock flew up into the air.

“The Austrians!” Lucia did not stop to think in her fear.  She dashed out of the house and down the road in the opposite direction from the town.  Without realizing the personal danger to herself, she ran as fast as she could.  Fear and the noise of the exploding shells sent her plunging ahead regardless of direction.

Instinctively she took the path to the right at the foot of the village and climbed up to the little plateau.  She was directly under the fire of her own guns, but the noise from both sides was so great that she did not know it, and she forged ahead, shouting.  In all the tumult she could not even hear her own voice, but to shout relieved her nerves of the terrible strain.

When she reached the plateau she climbed on up, choosing the spot where, earlier in the day, the Italian soldiers had come from, and slipping and sliding, but always goaded on by fear, and the knowledge that she must tell some one about the beggar, she kept on her way.

She did not know how long she ran, or when it was that she stumbled, but suddenly everything was black before her eyes, and the noise of the guns was blotted out by the awful ringing in her ears.  Then came oblivion.

When she next realized anything, she was conscious of some one bending over her and holding a water bottle to her lips.  She drank gratefully and opened her eyes.  The Italian soldier was beside her, and another man was lying on the ground near her.

“Give me something to eat,” she said, trying to sit up, “or I will go away again.”  Going away was the only way she knew of, to express the sensation of fainting.

The Italian took something out of his knapsack and gave it to her.  Lucia ate ravenously, and the queer feeling at the pit of her stomach disappeared.

“How did you escape?” he asked.

The question brought back a sudden wave of memory, and Lucia jumped up excitedly.

“By the river road—­two Austrians and a beggar—­they met by the foot-bridge, over there where the noise comes from; I saw them.”  She recalled the facts jerkily.

“Go on!” the Italian’s eyes flashed.

“The beggar gave the Austrians a paper, and they left with it and climbed up into the mountains across the river.  I could not follow without being seen, and when I tried to find the beggar he had disappeared.  The river runs right under the wall.”