IN THE TOOL SHED
At sight of her he jumped to his feet.
"Halt!" he commanded, unnecessarily, for Lucia was far too frightened
to move.
She was thinking of the soldier whose head would appear at any moment
over the ledge of rock behind, and her one wish was to stop him.
"I won't move, sir!" she cried loudly, "I see you have a big gun and I
am all alone." She spoke in Italian, but the Austrian seemed to
understand.
"What are you doing prowling around here at this time of day?" he
demanded angrily, speaking to her in her own language.
"Oh, sir, I am lost," Lucia replied, not daring to look below her. "My
goat wandered away in the storm and I came out to find her, and now I
am very, very far away from home."
She walked towards the man as she spoke. She was terrified for fear he
would discover the cave below her.
"Where did you sleep?" he demanded.
"Oh, I have not slept, sir. See my dress it is wet from the rain,
there is no shelter anywhere, and the wind and the rain frightened me
so I did not know where I was, and I was afraid to stay still."
The Austrian eyed her suspiciously.
"Why didn't you go to the soldiers and ask for shelter?" he inquired
harshly.
"The soldiers?" Lucia's brown eyes opened wide in surprise. "But
there are no soldiers near here. They are miles away with the guns.
How could I reach them? My home is over there," she pointed in the
opposite direction from the cave, "and I think I will go back to it,
now that it is day."
"Oh, no, you won't," the Austrian replied. "You'll come with me."
"But why, what have I done?" Lucia inquired.
"That's not the point," the soldier replied. "You're an Italian, and
if I let you go you'll run home and tell all the troops in the town
that I was here. Oh, no, my little lady, we can't allow that--you're
coming along with me."
His lordly tone and the sneer on his lips infuriated Lucia. She
thought all danger of his discovering the cave was over, so she replied
angrily. "And suppose I won't come? Don't think you can frighten me,
for you can't. I tell you, I won't go a step with you."
The Austrian was about to reply, when a sound that had been so welcome
only a few hours ago struck terror to Lucia's ears.
"Naa, Naa!"
"What's that?" the soldier jumped nervously. He was startled and
frightened. Lucia saw it and her own courage returned.
"My goat," she said as Garibaldi appeared above the rock.
Lucia ran to him.
"My pet, here you are, I have found you at last. Where have you been?
you are a bad girl. See how you frightened the brave Austrian soldier."
The sarcasm and scorn in her voice were unmistakable. The soldier was
indignant.
"Here, that is enough from you. Come along, I will take you where they
will teach you better manners."
He caught her roughly by the shoulder, and Lucia went with him only too
gladly. If she could get him well away from the cave, it would be time
enough to think of herself. She, had no doubt that she would be able
to run away from him later on.
As they walked along the noise underground grew louder. Every now and
then the man would turn and look at her suspiciously. He did not speak
to her, however, and they walked for quite a distance in silence. When
Lucia considered that they had gone far enough she stopped.
"Where are you taking me?" she demanded with spirit.
"Never mind, you come along," the man replied impatiently. "Time
enough for you to know when we get there."
"But I won't go any further." Lucia was determined. "Do you think
that I will be taken prisoner by an Austrian? Never!"
Her eyes blazed indignantly. She planned so many times just what she
would do, if she was ever brought face to face with her hated enemy,
that the feeling of helplessness that she felt under the big man's hand
infuriated her.
"Come along, I will not speak again," the Austrian commanded, and once
more Lucia went on, unable to withstand the strength of his arm.
The flat ground ended abruptly, and they had to climb down jagged
rocks. Lucia thought that her chance of escape had come, but the
Austrian never lessened his hold on her arm.
They had traveled this far without meeting any one. The only signs of
life had been the mysterious noise underground, and the click of
Garibaldi's sharp hoofs as they hit the stone.
When they reached a certain point the soldier stopped. "If you make
any noise," he said roughly, "I will have to shoot you."
Lucia opened her mouth to scream, but before the sound came she changed
her mind. A new and splendid idea had just come to her. She stopped
holding back and walked obediently beside her guard. They did not go
very far, before he told her to lie down and crawl, and before she
realized where she was going, she was in a deep trench that ran along
the base of the rock and was completely hidden from sight.
Garibaldi followed them, picking her way daintily, and stopping every
now and then to let out a mournful "Naa!" The Austrian did not seem to
hear her. If he did, he paid no attention, but led Lucia hurriedly
along the dark passage.
They had not gone far before a sentry stopped them. Lucia's guard said
something to him that she could not understand. The sentry
disappeared, to return in a few minutes with another man. From the
respectful salutes that he received, Lucia decided he must be a very
high officer. More talk followed which she could not understand, and
then her guard turned to her.
"Follow me," he directed, and led her out of the passage across a
stretch of open ground, and over to a shed. Another soldier opened the
door, and before Lucia quite got her breath, she heard the key turn in
a lock and the thud, thud of the men's boots as they marched away.