Tebaldo's nerves were beginning to give way. It was of no use for him to
argue with himself, and tell himself that the knife would not be found.
He knew that the possibility existed. No one in Santa Vittoria would
look for it, but there was the bishop, who would shortly reconsecrate
the church, and there was the judge, who had told San Giacinto that he
might go up to visit the scene of the murder. The bishop might order the
grating to be opened in order to see the bones of the saint; and the
judge, accustomed to the ways of criminals, might insist upon a search,
seeing that the murder had taken place within arm's length of the altar.
In his broken dreams, the judge and the bishop appeared separately and
together and turned into each other, and invariably found the knife, and
then Tebaldo was suddenly in the court-room, at the bar, where Ippolito
had stood, instead of on the witness stand, and he heard all the people
yell and curse his name, as the villagers of Santa Vittoria had cursed
the young priest. As in the old days of torture a man was drawn up by
his hands to the high vault of the prison, and then dropped all at once
with a hideous wrenching and tearing of the joints till his feet were
but a foot from the floor, so Tebaldo's sudden waking was but a sudden
change of agony renewed each time and each time more unendurable, till
the fear of dreaming was outdone by the dread of returning to
consciousness.
When he was awake he imagined impossible schemes for getting possession
of the knife unobserved. It might have seemed simple enough to go up to
Santa Vittoria, call the sacristan, and have the church opened for him.
Then he could have invented an excuse for sending the fat man away
while he quietly reached down through the grating and felt for the
knife. In his ordinary state of mind and health he would have done that,
and there were ninety-nine chances in a hundred that he would have
succeeded.
But it looked differently to him now. In the first place, a sheer
physical horror of going back to the village at all had taken the place
of the cynical indifference which had at first left his cunning and his
coolness free to act. Everyone who has dealt with humanity under the
influence of pain or fear knows that the effect of either is cumulative,
and that in each individual there seems to be a limit beyond which the
nerves will resist no more, and the will-power altogether ceases. A man
may bear a certain grievous pain on the first day without a sign; on the
second day he will grind his teeth; on the third he will wince; later he
will groan, writhe, and at last break down, like a mere child, under
one-tenth of the suffering he bore manfully and silently at first. And
it is the same with any given fear. In a smaller degree it is so also in
the matter of losing one's temper under constantly-renewed irritation of
the same kind. Even in another direction, but in one which equally
concerns the nerves, this thing is true. Often, in a farce on the stage,
an indifferent action passes unnoticed; it recurs and excites attention;
again it comes, and the audience smile; once more, and they laugh, and
cannot control their laughter each time the action is repeated, until a
certain capacity for being moved to mirth again and again in one
direction, which varies in each individual, is momentarily paralysed.
People afterwards realise with surprise, and sometimes with a little
shame, the emptiness of the absurdities at which they have laughed so
heartily; as many a man has despised himself for having been angry at a
trifle, and wondered at his own weakness in having winced under an
insignificant pain. But the trifle is only the drop that overfills the
cup at last.
So Tebaldo had almost reached the limit of endurance, and the mere idea
of going back to the village and the church was intolerable to him. It
seemed to him that even if he could make up his mind to the attempt, he
should be sure to fail. The sacristan would come back unexpectedly and
find him with his hand through the grating, groping after the knife; or
the lame boy, who always hung about the gate, would look in and see him.
Yet he could not have locked himself into the church, for that also
would have excited suspicion.
The idea that he might get some one else to recover the weapon for him
took hold of him by degrees. At first it appeared to be madness to trust
any one with his secret, and his keen sense rejected the plan with
scorn. But it suggested itself again and again with increasing
persistence, because the mere thought that he might get the thing back
without going to Santa Vittoria in person was an inexpressible relief,
and he began to try and think of some person whom he could trust to be
prompt and secret.
At first he thought of asking someone in Santa Vittoria. The fat
sacristan, whom he had known for years, could do it easily. But Tebaldo
recognised at once that he had no hold upon the man, who might betray
him at any moment. Money would tempt the fellow, but no sum could
silence him afterwards, if he should demand more, as was very probable.
Besides, it would be necessary to write to him, and the man might lose
the letter, even if he were able to read it well enough to understand,
which was doubtful. There was Don Atanasio, the apothecary. He would do
much out of hatred for the Saracinesca, as his daughter had done
already. But he was a cautious old man, dependent, in a large measure,
upon the government, and would not be inclined to endanger his position
to oblige Tebaldo. It would not do to risk a refusal.
Then it occurred to the wretched man that women had more than once saved
men who loved them from desperate danger, and that, after all, he might
do worse than to tell Aliandra the truth. If she were willing, she could
go up to Santa Vittoria on a pretext and visit the little church, and
get rid of the sacristan. Then, if she wore a wide cloak, she could
kneel down on pretence of looking through the grating, and her slim
woman's arm could run through it in a moment, and her hand could not
fail to find the knife. He could remember, now, exactly at how many
inches from the left he had dropped it through. The details came back to
him with vivid clearness, though at first he had almost quite forgotten
them.
He almost made up his mind to go to Aliandra for assistance, and the
half-decision was a sudden and immense relief. He could eat and drink,
and he felt that he should sleep. Immediately his mind outran this first
plan, and he saw himself in Rome again, in three or four days at the
most, engaged to marry the great heiress, resuming his regular life of
wise courtship, and discussing with his future wife the details of a
brilliant existence. He drove away the subconsciousness that the thing
was not yet done, and revelled in visions in which there was no fear.
But that did not last long, for he could not sleep, after all; and the
knowledge that he must act quickly grew constantly more disturbing, till
he rose in the night and sat by the open window, working out his plan.
He must go to Randazzo again and see Aliandra; then he must wait at the
inn, while she went up to Santa Vittoria. The hours of waiting would be
hard to bear, but at the end of them there would be freedom. She would
come back, and he should see her pass. He should go to her father's
house. She would meet him at the door and draw him into the familiar
sitting-room, and a moment later the weapon would be in his hand. After
all, if he once had it, she could have no proof against him, beyond her
mere assertion, if she should ever turn against him. For the sake of his
love for her, she would never do that, he thought.
He telegraphed to Tatò at dawn to meet him at the Piedimonte station. It
was a Thursday, and he felt sure that the judge would not be at leisure
to go up to Santa Vittoria before Sunday. It was most probable, too,
that the bishop would choose the Sunday to reconsecrate the church, and
it occurred to Tebaldo that it would be strange if the two should meet
as they were always meeting in his dreams. But there was plenty of time
before that, and all would come right. Aliandra would not refuse to do
him this service.
Tatò met him at Piedimonte in person, instead of sending down his man,
and in obedience to Tebaldo's telegram he had brought a light conveyance
in which the two sat side by side, with Tebaldo's little valise at their
feet, and his rifle between them. They were old acquaintances, for Tatò
had driven the Corleone family for years himself, and by deputy, as it
were, while he had been serving his time in Ponza. He had a profound
respect for Tebaldo, for he knew how the latter with his brothers had
long ago led the soldiers astray when pursuing the brigands in the
neighbourhood of Camaldoli There was probably no man in that part of the
country who knew as much about people of all sorts and conditions, and
about their movements, as the smart-looking owner of the stable at
Piedimonte, nor anyone who could keep his own counsel better. He was a
thorough type of the 'maffeuso,' at all points, as San Giacinto had at
first observed to Orsino. San Giacinto had always believed that the man
had known of Ferdinando's intended attack, and of the pitfall in the
avenue.
Tatò told Tebaldo that he had driven San Giacinto alone up to Camaldoli
on the previous evening, returning during the night.
'What courage!' he exclaimed, with some genuine admiration, as he spoke
of the big man. 'After all that has happened! He is a man of iron, full
of courage and blood.'
'There was no particular danger in driving up to Camaldoli,' observed
Tebaldo, indifferently.
Tatò looked at him curiously for a moment, to see whether he were in
earnest.
'Then you do not know?' he enquired. 'They are in the woods above
Maniace.'
'They' means the outlaws, or the carabineers, as the sense requires.
Tebaldo looked quickly at Tatò in his turn.
'How many?' he asked.
'A dozen or fifteen,' said Tatò. 'There is Mauro, and Leoncino, and the
one they call Schiantaceci--he was a gentleman of Palermo, but no one
knows his real name, and the Moscio--eh, there are many! Who knows all
their names? But Mauro is with them.'
'Leoncino is a good man,' observed Tebaldo, quite naturally.
'Souls of his dead! You have spoken the truth. It was he that wore the
carabineer's uniform when they took the Duca di Fornasco's bailiff. He
has a face like a stone. Yet Mauro himself is the best of them, though
he is often ill with his liver. You know the life they lead. The food is
sometimes good, but sometimes it is badly cooked, and they eat in a
hurry, and then that poor Mauro's liver troubles him.'
'Why have they come over from Noto? Do you know?'
'For a change of air, I suppose,' answered Tatò, imperturbably. 'But
they say that the Fornasco is coming from Naples. Perhaps they would
like to try for the Saracinesca. Who knows what they want?'
'Do the carabineers know that they are near Maniace?'
'How should they know? Mauro and the Leoncino rode into Santa Vittoria
yesterday afternoon to see--good health to you--to see where Don
Francesco died. They asked the little lieutenant of infantry to tell
them the way to the church, as though they were strangers. Do you think
he has their photographs in his pocket? He took them for two farmers
going from Catania to Randazzo.'
'They might have caught San Giacinto last night when you drove him up,'
said Tebaldo.
'If everyone knew where to look for money, there would be no poor men,'
returned Tatò. 'They did not know about the Saracinesca, and the
carabineers do not know about them. Thus the world goes. Each man turns
his back on his fortune and chases flies. Should you not like to see the
Moscio, Don Tebaldo? You know that it was he who helped that angel of
paradise, Don Ferdinando. He goes everywhere, for he is not known.'
'Yes. I should like to see him. But I do not care to go up to the
Maniace woods, for I am known, though he is not. How can I see him? I
should like to ask him about my brother.'
'Where shall you stay to-night?' enquired Tatò.
'At the inn at Randazzo. I am not going to Santa Vittoria. I have
business with Basili.'
'I will arrange it,' answered Tatò. 'Leave it to me.'
Tebaldo assented and remained silent for some time. As they drove on,
nearer and nearer to Randazzo, the folly of his present plan became
clear to him, and in the place of Aliandra, as an agent for getting back
the knife, the possibility of employing the young outlaw known as the
Moscio presented itself, and the possibility of confiding freely in a
man whose position was ten times more desperate than his own, and whose
evidence could never be of any value in the eyes of the law. Mauro
himself was under obligations to Tebaldo, who could have betrayed him to
the authorities on more than one occasion, less than a year earlier.
Again and again both Mauro and the Moscio, as well as three or four
others of the band, had been at Camaldoli, and the Corleone had given
them food and drink and ammunition at a time when a great effort had
been made to catch them.
'Are you quite sure of being able to send a message to the Moscio?'
asked Tebaldo.
'Leave it to me,' said Tatò, again. 'I have a little bundle for him in
the back of the waggon. How do I know what is in it? It feels like new
clothes from the tailor in Messina. The Moscio is fond of good clothes.
He writes to his tailor, who sends the things when he can, by a sure
hand. You know how they live, as well as I do. They always wear new
clothes, and give their old things to the peasants, because they can
only carry little with them. And then, they are well brought up and are
accustomed to be clean. But I speak as though you were a Roman. You know
how they live. The Moscio will have his bundle this afternoon, and this
evening he will come down and have supper with you at Randazzo, at the
inn. I know this, therefore I asked if you wished to see him, and not
another.'
Before Randazzo was in sight, Tebaldo had quite made up his mind to
confide in the outlaw, and he could hardly have believed that he had
left Messina that morning with the firm intention of imploring Aliandra
to help him. But he looked forward to seeing her and to spending most of
the afternoon with her.
He was disappointed. Everything happened exactly as at his last visit.
Basili's man appeared at the door of the house, instead of from the
stable, and gave precisely the same message. Aliandra had taken Gesualda
to the country to visit some friends, and had not come back. No one knew
when she meant to come.
'Tell me something else,' said Tebaldo, offering the man money, for he
knew that the story could not be true.
The man threw back his head in refusal.
'You might give me also Peru,' he answered 'This is the truth, and this
I have told you.'
'I should like to see Signor Basili,' said Tebaldo, thinking that he
might get into the house.
'The notary sleeps,' answered the man, stolidly, and he began to shut
the door.
To force an entrance seemed out of the question, and Tebaldo went away
angry and disappointed. He could see that it would be of no use to try
again, for the same answer would be given to his enquiries. It was
enraging to know that the woman he loved was within a few yards of him,
and able to keep him away from her. But his anger was a relief from the
perpetual anxiety about the knife, which was wearing out his nerves, day
and night.
In the afternoon he shut himself up in the room he had taken and tried
to write to Aliandra, but he was in no condition for composing
love-letters. He could find nothing but reproaches for her unkindness in
refusing to admit him; and as soon as he had expressed them, he felt
that his own words exhibited him in an absurdly undignified position.
Besides, he was really waiting in the unconscious hope of explaining her
conduct to himself, when he knew that it was as yet inexplicable.
Meanwhile he tore up the pages he had covered, and threw the whole blame
upon Basili, unwilling to admit that the woman he loved could turn
against him.
In the hot hours of the afternoon he shut the windows and dozed
restlessly on a hard sofa, and his evil dreams came upon him once more
and tormented him, waking him again and again just when the sweetness of
rest was within reach. At last, his body being very weary, the dreams
could no longer wake him, and tortured him at their will while he lay
in a heavy sleep.
It was already dark when he awoke with a start. The door had opened, and
a youth was standing beside him holding a candle in a brass candlestick,
shading the flame a little with the other hand and looking down into his
face.
'I regret that I disturb you,' said the young man, in a gentle, girlish
voice. 'I hope you have slept well?'
Tebaldo was already sitting up on the sofa, and had recognised the
Moscio. The outlaw could not have been more than twenty-two years old,
and looked a mere boy. He was of medium height, delicately made, very
carefully shaved, and dressed with a sort of careless good taste,
wearing a black velvet jacket, immaculate linen, riding-trousers with
gaiters, patent leather shoes, and silver-plated spurs. He was hatless,
and his short, soft brown hair curled all over his head, close and fine,
like curly Astrachan fur. There was a tender, youthful freshness in his
skin, and he had beautiful teeth. He had studied for the bar and had
been driven to outlawry because, failing to pass his final examination,
he had shot his teacher through the head at the first opportunity. But
he had killed a number of men since then and had almost forgotten the
incident.
Tebaldo rose to his feet and greeted him.
'A friend told me you were here and wished to see me,' said the Moscio.
'I am at your service, though to tell the truth I am somewhat ashamed to
meet you, after that unfortunate affair at Camaldoli.'
'Why?' asked Tebaldo. 'I do not see----'
'It was I that fired over the carriage to draw away the escort,' replied
the other. 'Your poor brother was too enthusiastic. I was afraid that
something would happen to him, for the plan did not seem to be very well
thought out. In a manner I feel responsible for his misfortune, for I
should not have consented to what he proposed. I hope, however, that
there need be no bad blood between you and me on that account.'
'Ferdinando was always foolish,' answered Tebaldo. 'It was certainly not
your fault.'
'And now you have had another misfortune in the family,' said the
youth, sadly. 'I take the first opportunity of offering you my most
sincere condolence.'
Tebaldo knew that with such a man it was better to be frank, or to say
nothing. He bowed gravely, and proposed that they should have supper.
The Moscio answered with equal gravity, and made a little bow on his
side, by way of acknowledgment.
'I was about to ask you to be my guest,' he said. 'I supped with you at
Camaldoli the last time we met. We might have supper here in your room,'
he suggested. 'But I fear to inconvenience you--'
'Not at all,' replied Tebaldo. 'I prefer it also. We shall be more at
liberty to talk.'
'For that matter,' said the brigand, 'the conversation in the public
room is often amusing and sometimes instructive. The lieutenant of
carabineers sat at the table next to me the last time I spent the
evening here. He was very friendly and asked my opinion about catching
the Moscio.'
'If you prefer to have supper downstairs, let us go down,' said Tebaldo,
laughing a little. 'But the fact is that I wished to consult you on a
little matter of my own.'
'In that case, it is different. But it was I that proposed your room.'
While the waiter came and went, preparing the table, the two men talked
a little, continuing to exchange small civilities. The waiter knew them
both perfectly well, and they knew him. In twenty minutes they sat down
opposite each other, as proper and quiet a pair to see as one could have
found in that part of the country. The Moscio had good manners, of a
slightly provincial sort, and a little too elaborate. He watched Tebaldo
quietly, with a view to profiting by the example of a gentleman who had
lately been much in the capital. He ate sparingly, moreover, and mixed
his black wine with a large proportion of water.
Tebaldo watched the girlish face, the bright, quiet eyes, and the
child-like complexion of the man who had done half a dozen murders, and
envied him his evident peace of mind. He knew, however, that his guest
would not stay long, and that it was necessary to tell him the story.
The Moscio gave him an opportunity of doing so, almost as soon as the
waiter had gone away.
'It was with the deepest regret that I heard of Don Francesco's
accident,' he said, looking up at Tebaldo.
'For that matter,' answered Tebaldo, boldly, 'I killed him myself.'
'I always supposed so,' replied the outlaw, quite unmoved. 'Are you
going to join us, if you are found out? It would be a pleasure to have
you among us, I need not assure you. But, of course, so long as there is
no suspicion, you will remain in the world. I should, in your place.
Poor Ferdinando, whom we all loved as a brother, liked the life for its
own sake. Poor man! If he had ever made an enemy, he would have killed
him, but having none, his hands were clean as a child's. And in his very
first affair, he was shot like a quail by a Roman. Heaven is very
unjust, sometimes. Yes, we all thought that you must have sent Francesco
to paradise yourself and put the blame on the priest. It was well done.
The priest will go to the galleys for it, I daresay.'
The youth's manner was as quiet as though he were speaking of the most
ordinary occurrences. The knowledge of what he really was, and of what
desperate deeds of daring he had done, somehow acted soothingly upon
Tebaldo's nerves, for he needed just such an ally.
'Yes,' he said. 'It was done well enough. But I made a little mistake
which I hope you will help me to rectify for the sake of any service I
may have done you all before I sold Camaldoli.'
'Willingly,' answered the Moscio, with courteous alacrity. 'But if it is
for to-night, I hope you can lend me half a dozen Winchester cartridges,
for I am a little short.'
Tebaldo explained briefly what he wanted. The Moscio smiled quietly.
'Nothing could be easier,' he said, when Tebaldo had finished. 'I will
ride into the village to-morrow morning and get your knife. But, for
another time, I should advise you to keep your weapon about you when you
have used it. If you are caught, it is because you are suspected already
on some good ground, and the weapon makes little difference. But if you
get away quietly, you leave no evidence behind you.'
'That is true,' answered Tebaldo, thoughtfully. 'But there is no name on
the knife.'
'Nevertheless, someone might recognise it as yours, if anyone had ever
seen it.'
'No one ever saw it, excepting my brothers and, perhaps, my sister, when
it lay on my table. But your advice is good. I might have saved myself
much disquiet if I had brought it away.'
The Moscio made Tebaldo explain very exactly to him where the knife lay.
He knew the village and the position of the little church well enough.
They talked over the details of the matter for a while, speaking in low
tones.
'I suppose you do not want the thing when I have recovered it,' observed
the outlaw, with a smile.
'I should like to see it,' answered Tebaldo. 'Then I should throw it
away, I suppose.'
'Again?' The Moscio smiled in a rather pitying way. 'Then you might wish
to get it back a second time. It has no name on it, you say. If it is a
good knife, I shall put it into my own pocket, with your permission, as
a remembrance of this very pleasant meeting.'
'I should like to see it once,' repeated Tebaldo.
'You do not trust me? After trusting me with the story? That is not
right.'
'I have proved that I trust you,' replied Tebaldo. 'But the thing makes
me dream; I shall not get a good night's rest till I have seen it. Then
keep it, by all means.'
'I see!' The brigand laughed a little in genuine amusement. 'I
understand! Forgive me for thinking that I was not trusted. You have
nerves--you do not sleep. We have a friend with us who is troubled in
the same way. Do you remember the man we call Schiantaceci? He killed
his sweetheart for jealousy, and began in that way. That was five years
ago, in Palermo. If you will believe it, he dreams of her still, and
often cannot sleep for thinking of her. Some men are so strangely
organised! Now there is our captain Mauro himself. Whenever he has
killed anybody, he gets a gold twenty-franc piece and puts it into a
little leathern purse he carries for that purpose.'
'Why?' asked Tebaldo, with some curiosity.
'For two reasons. In the first place, he knows at any time how many he
has killed. And secondly, he says that they are intended to pay for
masses for his soul when he is killed himself. One tells him that
someone will get the gold, if he is killed. He answers that Heaven will
respect his intention of having the masses said, even if it is not
carried out when he is dead. That man has a genius for theology. But I
must be going, Don Tebaldo, for I do not wish to tire my horse too much,
and I have far to ride.'
'I will not keep you. But how shall I see the knife? You cannot come
down again to-morrow.'
'We should be glad to see you in the forest, if you can find us. Mauro
would be delighted. I have no doubt you will be able to find your way,
for you know the woods as well as we do. I cannot tell you where we are,
for we have a rule against that, but I daresay you can guess.'
'I will come,' answered Tebaldo.
'If you come alone, you will be safe,' said the Moscio. 'Safer than you
are here, perhaps, while your knife is lying under the altar of Santa
Vittoria. But it will not be there any longer, to-morrow night.'
The Moscio protested courteously, when Tebaldo thanked him, and he took
leave of his entertainer. His coolness was perfectly unaffected, and was
the more remarkable as he was certainly a rather striking young man on
account of his good looks, his extremely youthful appearance, his
perfectly new clothes, and a certain gentleman-like ease in all he did.
He was known by sight to hundreds of people in various parts of the
island, but he did not believe that any of them would betray him, and he
passed the open door of the guest-room, where the lieutenant of
carabineers was playing dominoes with the deputy prefect, with perfect
indifference, though there was a large reward on his head, and he was
well known to the landlord and the waiter. To tell the truth, he was
utterly fearless, and would never have allowed himself to be taken
alive. But, on their side, if they were ever tempted by the reward,
they knew how short and how terrible their own lives would be if they
betrayed him to his death. The man who betrayed Leone still lives,
indeed. He is a blind beggar now, without feet or hands, in the streets
of Naples. He left Sicily with his life, such as the outlaws left it to
him, to be an example and a terror to the enemies of the mafia.
Nor did the waiter show by any sign or word that he knew anything about
the guest who had gone, when he came to clear the little table in
Tebaldo's room. He did his work silently and neatly and went away.
Tebaldo sat a long time by the open window, thinking over what he had
done, and he congratulated himself on having acted wisely in an
extremity from which there had been no other escape.
It all looked easy and simple now. To-morrow night, he thought, he
should be sure of his safety. Then he would return to Rome again. His
thoughts reverted more easily now to the dreams which Rome suggested,
and he fell asleep with a sense of present relief mingled with large
hopes for the immediate future.
The Moscio, on his part, would not perhaps have responded so promptly to
Tebaldo's message, nor have undertaken so readily to carry out Tebaldo's
wishes, if there had been nothing for the outlaws to gain thereby. But
the alliance of such a man was not to be neglected at any time. He had
served them in the past, and he could be of considerable service to them
now.
Mauro had made up his mind to take one of the Saracinesca, if the
capture were possible, and to extort an enormous ransom, sufficient to
allow him to leave the country with what he should consider a fortune.
He was well informed, and he recognised that a family which had such
power as the Saracinesca had shown in getting Ippolito's case heard and
disposed of in a few days, and, previously, in persuading the
authorities to move a body of troops to Santa Vittoria, must be able to
dispose of a very large sum of money. Moreover, as the Moscio had
frankly admitted, the outlaws had all believed that Tebaldo had killed
his brother, and, consequently, that he could be completely dominated by
any one who had proof of the fact. The Moscio had taken advantage of
this instantly, as has been seen. Tebaldo, though now on bad terms with
the Saracinesca, was well acquainted with their habits and characters,
and knew, also, the bypaths about Camaldoli, as none of the brigands
themselves did. He could be of the greatest use in an undertaking which
must require all the skill and courage of the band. For it was no light
thing to carry off such a man as San Giacinto or Orsino, protected as
they were by a force of carabineers in their own dwelling, and by the
fifty soldiers of the line who were quartered in Santa Vittoria.
When Tatò's message had arrived, Mauro had not only advised the Moscio
to go down at once, but had instructed him to use every means in his
power, even to threatening Tebaldo with a revelation of his former
services, in order to get from him the truth about Francesco's death, as
a means of controlling him in the future. It had been an easy task, as
has been seen, and when the Moscio returned to the band that night, his
account of the meeting was heard with profound attention and interest.
Mauro, who had a curious taste for churches, would have gone himself to
Santa Vittoria, had he not been there on the previous day. A second
visit might have roused suspicion, whereas, since the murder, no one was
surprised if a stranger asked to see the place where it had happened.
The Moscio was, therefore, directed to go himself, as he had intended.
The outlaws were encamped at that time in certain abandoned huts which
the Duca di Fornasco had built as a safe retreat for some of his people
during the cholera season of 1884. They were so completely hidden by
underbrush and sweet hawthorn that it required a perfect knowledge of
their locality to find them at all; but having been built on an eminence
in the hills, in order to obtain the purest air, it was easy to keep a
lookout from them by climbing into the big trees which surrounded them
on all sides. A spring, situated on the eastern slope, at a distance of
three hundred yards, supplied the outlaws with water for themselves and
their horses. Tebaldo, in former days, had led the carabineers to this
spring, in their search for the band, but though the soldiers fancied
that they had then quartered the hill in all directions, Tebaldo had
skilfully prevented them from coming upon the disused huts in the
brush, wisely judging that it could be of no use to betray such a
hiding-place, which might be useful to his friends in the future. The
Moscio knew that Tebaldo would probably make first for the spot when he
came to keep his engagement on the following day.