Previous - Next

it almost by accident, after a series of hairbreadth escapes; and that I
trusted they would not allow any evil to overtake me now that I was
completely at their mercy. All this I said quietly and firmly, with
hardly any change of expression. They could not understand me, but they
looked approvingly to one another, and seemed pleased (so I thought) that
I showed no fear nor acknowledgment of inferiority--the fact being that I
was exhausted beyond the sense of fear. Then one of them pointed to the
mountain, in the direction of the statues, and made a grimace in
imitation of one of them. I laughed and shuddered expressively, whereon
they all burst out laughing too, and chattered hard to one another. I
could make out nothing of what they said, but I think they thought it
rather a good joke that I had come past the statues. Then one among them
came forward and motioned me to follow, which I did without hesitation,
for I dared not thwart them; moreover, I liked them well enough, and felt
tolerably sure that they had no intention of hurting me.

In about a quarter of an hour we got to a small Hamlet built on the side
of a hill, with a narrow street and houses huddled up together. The
roofs were large and overhanging. Some few windows were glazed, but not
many. Altogether the village was exceedingly like one of those that one
comes upon in descending the less known passes over the Alps on to
Lombardy. I will pass over the excitement which my arrival caused.
Suffice it, that though there was abundance of curiosity, there was no
rudeness. I was taken to the principal house, which seemed to belong to
the people who had captured me. There I was hospitably entertained, and
a supper of milk and goat's flesh with a kind of oatcake was set before
me, of which I ate heartily. But all the time I was eating I could not
help turning my eyes upon the two beautiful girls whom I had first seen,
and who seemed to consider me as their lawful prize--which indeed I was,
for I would have gone through fire and water for either of them.

Then came the inevitable surprise at seeing me smoke, which I will spare
the reader; but I noticed that when they saw me strike a match, there was
a hubbub of excitement which, it struck me, was not altogether unmixed
with disapproval: why, I could not guess. Then the women retired, and I
was left alone with the men, who tried to talk to me in every conceivable
way; but we could come to no understanding, except that I was quite
alone, and had come from a long way over the mountains. In the course of
time they grew tired, and I very sleepy. I made signs as though I would
sleep on the floor in my blankets, but they gave me one of their bunks
with plenty of dried fern and grass, on to which I had no sooner laid
myself than I fell fast asleep; nor did I awake till well into the
following day, when I found myself in the hut with two men keeping guard
over me and an old woman cooking.

Previous - Next