_Flight of Bob.--Difference between a tame Donkey and a wild
Ass.--Carried off to the Mountains.--The Headlong Course.--The
Mountain Pass.--The Journey's End.--Ill-omened Place.--Confounded
by a new Terror.--The Brigands._
When the donkey first bounded off, the feelings of Bob were nothing
but pure, unmitigated delight. As his spirited animal, roused from
his indifference, burst through the crowd and reached the head,
Bob's heart swelled with triumph. As he rushed along the road, far
ahead of the rest, his triumph increased. He turned his head, and
waved his hands to his friends. Then he waved his cap in the air,
and shouted, "Hurrah!" Then he rode side-saddle fashion for a little
while, then he drew both legs up in front, and then he indulged in
a series of absurd and fantastic tricks.
All this Bob did because he supposed that he was riding ahead
of his friends, and that they were following him, and admiring
him. He had not made any calculation as to the great rate of
speed at which his donkey was carrying him, and had no idea
how quickly he was leaving all the rest behind. So, while he
had been indulging in his pranks for the amusement of those
whom he supposed to be following him, he was, in reality,
already beyond the reach of their eyes.
For his donkey was an animal very far superior to the common herd.
He was not a donkey--he was an ass--spirited, slender, sinewy, and
fleet as a race-horse. There was something so peculiarly easy in
the ass's gait that it deceived the rider. It seemed to him to be
a gentle ambling trot, or something midway between that and a
canter. In reality this easy pace was exceedingly swift, and before
long Bob was out of sight of his friends. This discovery burst
upon him as he turned, with the intention of shouting back some
nonsense to them, when, to his utter amazement and consternation,
he saw no signs of them whatever.
It must be confessed that the shock which this discovery gave to
Bob was a very powerful one. He looked all around in anxious
curiosity, with the endeavor to comprehend his situation. His first
thought was, that some accident had happened to the party which
was delaying them; but soon he became aware of his own tremendous
progress, and understood the true state of the case'. He was now
in a place where the road ran straight for over a mile. At the end
of this it turned. As Bob reached this turning-place, he looked
back again, and far away, just at the entrance upon the straight
piece of road, he saw the party coming. A few seconds and he was
once more carried out of sight.
And now Bob began to feel that his situation was a serious one. It
was not pleasant to be carried away in this manner, in a strange
country, on the back of an animal like this. Had it been a runaway
horse, he would have felt less troubled. He would, in fact, have
felt quite at home, for he had been frequently run away with on
horseback. He understood horses, but of asses he knew nothing. A
horse was to some extent a sensible animal. He would run away, and
in due time would come to a pause. But an ass! Was an ass possessed
of any sense of decency--any conscience? Would the well-known
obstinacy of the ass be shown on an occasion like this? and would
this ass, merely out of that obstinacy, keep on running for all
the rest of the day? It was a startling thought.
Bob all this time had been making desperate efforts to stop the
ass. He was considerably embarrassed by the fact that there was
no bridle, and no way of getting at the ass, so as to exert his
strength upon him. He tried various ways. First he pulled at his
long ears. For this the ass cared not a whit. He did not seem
to be conscious of it. Then he wound his hands about his neck,
and tried to pull his head back. The effect was useless. Bob's
strength was unavailing. He could no more move that bent and
stubborn neck, than he could straighten the crooked fluke of an
anchor. Then he pounded wildly upon the neck, shoulders, and
flanks of the ass, and kicked against his sides. This, too, was
useless, for his puny blows seemed to affect the animal no more
than so many puffs of wind. Then Bob tried other means. He sat
upright, and suddenly called, in a short, sharp, peremptory voice,
"Whoa!" This he repeated over and over, but without any success;
and at length he reflected that _whoa_ was English, a language
which, of course, an Italian ass could not understand.
While Bob had been putting forth these efforts, the ass bad been
flying along at an undiminished rate of speed, and the country
swept past him on either side. He passed long lines of trees by
the roadside, he saw field after field flit by, and the distant
hills went slowly along out of the line of his vision. Hitherto he
had met with no one at all along the road, nor had he seen any
cattle of any kind. His efforts to arrest the ass had been fruitless,
and he gave them up, and looked forward for some opportunity to
get assistance. He remembered that the road had no towns or inns
between Paestum and Salerno, and he began to fear that he would be
carried all the way to the latter place before he could stop.
His fears, however, were unfounded; for now an event occurred which
made him full of other thoughts. It was a sudden change in the
course of his flight. Thus far they had been going along the main
road. Now, however, they came to a place where a road led away on
the right, apparently to the mountains. Without the slightest pause
or hesitation, but with undiminished speed, and the headlong flight
of one familiar with the way, the ass turned from the main road,
and ran into this side road.
The anxiety and fear which Bob had thus far felt were trifling,
indeed, compared with the emotions that now seized upon him. Thus
far he had not felt altogether cut off from his friends. He knew
all the time that they were behind him, and that at the worst he
could not be carried farther than Salerno, and that they would come
up with him there, and thus they would all be reunited before dark.
But now he was suddenly carried off helplessly from the main road,
and in a moment seemed severed from his friends. Where was he going?
When would the ass stop?
Before him arose the mountainous country, not many miles away, the
declivities in some places slight and gradual, in other places
abrupt. Cultivated spots appeared here and there, and white villages,
and old castles. It was not, however, an inviting country, and the
nearer he drew to it the less he liked it. The road here was not
so broad, and smooth, and easy as the one he had just left, but
was narrow and rough. At length he reached the skirts of the
mountains, and the road now began to ascend. After a while it grew
somewhat steeper, and decidedly rougher. And now Bob found, to his
immense relief, that the pace was at last beginning to tell upon
the tough sinews of the fiery animal which he bestrode. The ass
could not keep up such a pace while ascending the mountain. Gradually
his speed slackened, and Bob at length began to look about for a
soft place, where he could jump.
But by this time the road entered what looked like a pass among
the mountains. On one side the hill rose, wooded in some places,
in others rocky; while on the other side it went down steep for
about thirty, feet, where a mountain torrent brawled, and dashed
over its rocky bed. It was about here that the ass slackened his
pace sufficiently for Bob to jump from his back; but just here
it was impossible to jump without the risk of breaking some of
his bones, and he was not yet quite desperate enough to run such
a risk as that. As the road went on through the pass, it grew
narrower and steeper, quite impassable for carriages, and Only
fit for travellers on horse or foot. The farther on it went,
the rougher and steeper it became, and it went on with many a
winding. No houses appeared, except at a great distance, and
those which did thus appear seemed separated by deep valleys
from the place where he was.
Bob could have easily dismounted from the donkey now; but he
hesitated. He thought with some dismay upon the distance that lay
between him and the main road. He thought that his friends must
have passed beyond the place where he turned off, and that if he
did go back he could not hope to meet them. Besides, to go so long
a distance on foot was too formidable a task just now. He hoped
that the ass had some aim in directing his course here, and that
he was seeking his home. Perhaps that home was close by. Perhaps
it was some village in the mountains. If so, he might be able to
obtain a mount for Salerno, and still reach that place before
night was over.
He hoped thug to find help--to get a horse or an ass, and also
something to eat, and thus set forth for Salerno. As the road wound
on, and as he traversed it, he looked eagerly at every projecting
cliff before him; and as he rounded each projection he still looked
forward eagerly in search of the place, whether house or village,
where he might obtain the help of which he stood in need. But the
road continued lonely. He saw no houses, no villages, in its
vicinity. He met with no living things, whether men or cattle. It
was the loneliest path he had ever traversed.
At last he rounded a projecting spur of the mountain; and here
he beheld a scene which was more promising. A little distance
off there was a bridge, which crossed the torrent. Beyond this
the mountains sloped away in an easy declivity, where appeared
several houses. On the other side of the bridge were two men.
The sight filled Bob with joy, and fearing that the ass might
once more take it into his head to run, he at once leaped off
the animal's back, and walked towards the bridge. The ass, freed
from his weight, trotted briskly away, and Bob followed. The
noise of me ass trotting over the bridge roused the two men, and
they walked across and caught him. One of them then held him,
and the other walked towards Bob.
As the latter approached, Bob noticed that he was dirty and bearded,
and rather shabby. He had a coarse jacket, with brass buttons; a
red flannel shirt, which was open, and disclosed a hairy breast;
and coarse leather breeches with leggings. A conical felt hat was
on the top of his head. Thusfar he was simply the counterpart of
hundreds of other peasants in this part of the country, shepherds,
drovers, wine-sellers, etc., such as he had encountered during his
drive. But in one important respect ne was different.
He had a gun in his hand.
This gun at once made him seem more than a simple peasant. It made
a profound impression upon Bob. And as the Italian approached, with
his eyes fixed on the new comer, a strange and very natural suspicion
was roused in Bob's mind.
"It's a brigand!" he thought. "I'm lost!"