In spite of all my anxiety, I began to feel a
craving appetite. I was glad, therefore, to hear the captain talk
something of eating. He observed that for three days and nights they
had been lurking about among rocks and woods, meditating their
expedition to Tusculum, during which all their provisions had been
exhausted. He should now take measures to procure a supply. Leaving me,
therefore, in the charge of his comrade, in whom he appeared to have
implicit confidence, he departed, assuring me, that in less than two
hours we should make a good dinner. Where it was to come from was an
enigma to me, though it was evident these beings had their secret
friends and agents throughout the country.
Indeed, the inhabitants of these mountains and of the valleys which
they embosom are a rude, half civilized set. The towns and villages
among the forests of the Abruzzi, shut up from the rest of the world,
are almost like savage dens. It is wonderful that such rude abodes, so
little known and visited, should be embosomed in the midst of one of
the most travelled and civilized countries of Europe. Among these
regions the robber prowls unmolested; not a mountaineer hesitates to
give him secret harbor and assistance. The shepherds, however, who tend
their flocks among the mountains, are the favorite emissaries of the
robbers, when they would send messages down to the valleys either for
ransom or supplies. The shepherds of the Abruzzi are as wild as the
scenes they frequent.
Pages:
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301