Out with Garibaldi: A story of the liberation of Italy
by G. A. Henty · English · Gutenberg #45573 · 598,106 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Out with Garibaldi: A story of the liberation of Italy
Author: G. A. Henty
Illustrator: W. Rainey
Release date: May 3, 2014 [eBook #45573]
Most recently updated: November 28, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUT WITH GARIBALDI: A STORY OF THE LIBERATION OF ITALY ***
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OUT WITH GARIBALDI
MR. HENTY'S HISTORICAL TALES.
THE CAT OF BUBASTES: A Story of Ancient Egypt....5_s._
THE YOUNG CARTHAGINIAN: A Story of the Times of Hannibal. ...6_s._
FOR THE TEMPLE: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem....6_s._
BERIC THE BRITON: A Story of the Roman Invasion....6_s._
THE DRAGON AND THE RAVEN: or, The Days of King Alfred....5_s._
WULF THE SAXON: A Story of the Norman Conquest....6_s._
A KNIGHT OF THE WHITE CROSS: The Siege of Rhodes....6_s._
IN FREEDOM'S CAUSE: A Story of Wallace and Bruce....6_s._
THE LION OF ST. MARK: A Story of Venice in the 14th Century....6_s._
ST. GEORGE FOR ENGLAND: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers....5_s._
A MARCH ON LONDON: A Story of Wat Tyler....5_s._
BOTH SIDES THE BORDER: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower....6_s._
AT AGINCOURT: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris....6_s._
BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST: or, With Cortez in Mexico....6_s._
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S EVE: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars....6_s._
BY PIKE AND DYKE: A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic....6_s._
BY ENGLAND'S AID: or, The Freeing of the Netherlands....6_s._
UNDER DRAKE'S FLAG: A Tale of the Spanish Main....6_s._
THE LION OF THE NORTH: A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus....6_s._
WON BY THE SWORD: A Tale of the Thirty Years' War....6_s._
WHEN LONDON BURNED: A Story of the Great Fire....6_s._
ORANGE AND GREEN: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick....5_s._
A JACOBITE EXILE: In the Service of Charles XII....5_s._
THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE: or, With Peterborough in Spain....5_s._
BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE: A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden....6_s._
WITH CLIVE IN INDIA: or, The Beginnings of an Empire....6_s._
WITH FREDERICK THE GREAT: The Seven Years' War....6_s._
WITH WOLFE IN CANADA: or, The Winning of a Continent....6_s._
TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG: The American War of Independence....6_s._
HELD FAST FOR ENGLAND: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar....5_s._
IN THE REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution....5_s._
NO SURRENDER! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendée....5_s._
A ROVING COMMISSION: A Story of the Hayti Insurrection....6_s._
THE TIGER OF MYSORE: The War with Tippoo Saib....6_s._
AT ABOUKIR AND ACRE: Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt....5_s._
WITH MOORE AT CORUNNA: A Tale of the Peninsular War....6_s._
UNDER WELLINGTON'S COMMAND: The Peninsular War....6_s._
WITH COCHRANE THE DAUNTLESS: A Tale of his Exploits....6_s._
THROUGH THE FRAY: A Story of the Luddite Riots....6_s._
THROUGH RUSSIAN SNOWS: The Retreat from Moscow....5_s._
ONE OF THE 28TH: A Story of Waterloo....5_s._
IN GREEK WATERS: A Story of the Grecian War (1821)....6_s._
ON THE IRRAWADDY: A Story of the First Burmese War....5_s._
THROUGH THE SIKH WAR: A Tale of the Punjaub....6_s._
MAORI AND SETTLER: A Story of the New Zealand War....5_s._
WITH LEE IN VIRGINIA: A Story of the American Civil War....6_s._
BY SHEER PLUCK: A Tale of the Ashanti War....5_s._
FOR NAME AND FAME: or, Through Afghan Passes....5_s._
THE DASH FOR KHARTOUM: A Tale of the Nile Expedition....6_s._
CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST: A Story of Escape from Siberia....5_s._
LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED; GLASGOW AND DUBLIN.
[Illustration: "FRANK ENGAGED IN A TOUGH FIGHT WITH THE OFFICER WHO HELD
THE FLAG"]
OUT WITH GARIBALDI
A STORY OF
THE LIBERATION OF ITALY
BY
G. A. HENTY
Author of "The Lion of St. Mark" "No Surrender!" "St. George for England"
"Under Wellington's Command" &c.
_WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY W. RAINEY, R.I._
LONDON
BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C
GLASGOW AND DUBLIN
1901
PREFACE
The invasion of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by Garibaldi with a
force of but a thousand irregular troops is one of the most romantic
episodes ever recorded in military history. In many respects it rivals
the conquest of Mexico by Cortez. The latter won, not by the greater
bravery of his troops, but by their immense superiority in weapons and
defensive armour. Upon the contrary, Garibaldi's force were ill-armed
and practically without artillery, and were opposed by an army of a
hundred and twenty thousand men carrying the best weapons of the time,
and possessing numerous and powerful artillery. In both cases the
invaders were supported by a portion of the population who had been
reduced to a state of servitude, and who joined them against their
oppressors. There is another point of resemblance between these
remarkable expeditions, inasmuch as the leaders of both were treated
with the grossest ingratitude by the monarchs for whom they had gained
such large acquisitions of territory. For the leading incidents in the
campaign I have relied chiefly upon Garibaldi's Autobiography and the
personal narrative of the campaign by Captain Forbes, R.N.
G. A. HENTY.
CONTENTS
CHAP. Page
I. AWAITING THE ATTACK 11
II. A DESPERATE DEFENCE 31
III. TROUBLES 50
IV. A SUDDEN SUMMONS 65
V. ON THE WAY 85
VI. THE VILLA SPINOLA 104
VII. THE EXPEDITION SAILS 125
VIII. PALERMO 143
IX. HARD FIGHTING 158
X. WITH BIXIO 178
XI. A HAZARDOUS EXPEDITION 197
XII. AN AMBUSCADE 216
XIII. ACROSS THE STRAITS 233
XIV. A DISCOVERY 252
XV. THE ADVANCE FROM REGGIO 272
XVI. NAPLES 292
XVII. THE BATTLE OF THE VOLTURNO 311
XVIII. CAPUA 330
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
"FRANK ENGAGED IN A TOUGH FIGHT WITH THE OFFICER
WHO HELD THE FLAG" _Frontis._ 145
"WALKING UP AND DOWN THE ROOM LIKE A CAGED LION" 35
"HIS ASSAILANT FELL BACK AND DISAPPEARED" 91
"THE HINGES OF THE DOOR WERE BROKEN OFF" 161
"IN HER EXCITEMENT SHE FELL ON HER KNEES" 205
"'SILENCE, SIGNORS!' HE SAID IN A LOUD VOICE" 244
"IT WAS NOT UNTIL NULLO ORDERED FOUR MEN TO LOAD
... THAT HE WOULD ANSWER" 307
"HE WENT UP TO PERCIVAL AND PUT HIS HAND ON HIS SHOULDER" 337
MAP SHOWING POSITION OF THE OPPOSING FORCES ROUND CAPUA 313
PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF THE VOLTURNO 319
OUT WITH GARIBALDI.
CHAPTER I.
AWAITING THE ATTACK.
On April 29th, 1849, two men were seated in a room whose open windows
commanded a view down the Tiber. A sound of confused uproar rose from
the city.
"I am afraid, Leonard," the elder of the two men said, "that the crisis
is at hand. The news that the French are landing to-day at Civita
Vecchia is ominous indeed. It is true that Oudïnot has sent a message
saying that the flag he has hoisted is that of peace and order. The
people will not believe that he comes as an enemy; but, for my part, I
have no doubt of it."
"Nor have I," the other replied. "It was bad enough that we had Austria
against us, Sardinia powerless, and all the princelings of Italy
hostile; but that France, having proclaimed herself a republic, should
now interfere to crush us and to put the Pope back upon his throne is
nothing short of monstrous. I feared that it would be so, but Mazzini
had so much faith in his influence with members of the French Assembly
that he has buoyed up the hopes of the populace, and even now the people
generally believe that the French come as friends."
"It is doubtless the influence of their new president, Napoleon, that
has turned the scale against us," the other said gloomily. "I do not
suppose that he cares about the Pope one way or the other, but it is his
interest to pose as his champion. By so doing he will gain the good
opinion of Austria, of Naples, and the ducal rulers of the Italian
states. Even Prussia, protestant as she is, would view with satisfaction
the suppression of a rising like ours, for her throne well-nigh tottered
in last year's explosion. Russia, too, which perhaps more than any other
power has reason to fear a popular rising, would feel grateful to
Napoleon for undertaking to crush free thought in Rome. It is evident
that the French President's move is a politic one. Do you think that we
shall fight, Leonard?"
"I fancy so. I have no belief in Mazzini's courage, president though he
may be. Garibaldi is the popular hero, and I know him well enough to be
sure that if he has but a handful of men to back him he will fight till
the end. We had the odds as heavily against us when we were
comrades-in-arms at Rio, with but the Susie and a merchantman with three
or four guns against the whole Brazilian navy, or when, with the Italian
volunteers, two hundred strong, we several times withstood the assault
of five times our number. You will see we shall fight; but there can be
no question what the end must be. We may repulse Oudïnot's attack; but
France could send any amount of reinforcements to him, while we have no
friends to go to. It is well that your wife, Muriel, and the boy were
sent off a month since to Leghorn, where, if we escape from what must
happen here, we can join them and take ship for England."
"I am sorry that you should be involved in this affair, Leonard."
"I am not sorry," the other said. "In the first place, after being here
more than ten years, I have come to hate the tyranny and oppression, I
don't say of the Pope himself, but of his underlings, as much as you do.
In the second place, I would fight by the side of Garibaldi in almost
any quarrel. I do not agree with him in his love for republics, but he
has infected me with his hatred of tyrants and his burning patriotism.
He is a glorious man; and after having been his comrade, I may almost
say his brother, in adventures, hardships, and battles for two years, it
would be strange indeed if I hesitated to join him in his crusade to rid
Italy of her tyrants. I am a soldier, and I own to a fondness for
fighting when convinced that the cause is a just one. I know your
opinions on the subject; but I suppose you do not propose to fight
yourself?"
"I do indeed, Leonard. I do not say that I should be a match for a
strong and active man in a bout with swords, though of course I learned
the use of the rapier when a student, but at fifty I can at least use a
musket as well as a younger man, and if Rome fights I fight with her.
Ah, here comes Garibaldi!"
The door opened, and a man entered, whose appearance, even had he not
been dressed in a red shirt, blue trousers of rough cloth, and a soft,
broad-brimmed wide-awake, would have been remarked wherever he went. Of
middle height, he was exceptionally wide across the shoulders and deep
in the chest; he wore his hair and beard long--both were of a golden
yellow, giving a remarkably leonine look to his face; his eyes were
blue, and the general expression of his face, when not angered, was
pleasant and good-tempered, although marked also by resolution and
firmness. At that time his name was comparatively little known in
Europe, although the extraordinary bravery and enterprise that he had
shown at Rio and Monte Video had marked him as a leader of guerilla
warfare, possessing many characteristics that recalled the exploits of
Lord Cochrane. It was only when, after his services had been declined by
Carlo Alberto, King of Sardinia, he was, with a few hundred followers,
making his way to aid in the defence of Venice against the Austrians,
that, on hearing that Rome had risen, he hurried to aid the movement,
and on his arrival there was greeted with enthusiasm by the populace,
who had been informed by Mazzini of his exploits.
"You have heard the news?" he said as he entered.
"Yes; we were just talking it over," Leonard Percival said, "and
conclude, as I suppose you do, that the French come as enemies."
"There can be no doubt about it, my friend," Garibaldi said. "If they
had said that they came as enemies I might have doubted them; but after
the evasive answer their general gave to the deputation Mazzini sent
them this morning, I have no question whatever that they will attack us
to-morrow."
"And you will fight?"
"Of course. We shall beat them, I think; in the end Rome must fall, but
our resistance will not have been in vain. The stand we shall make
against tyranny will touch every heart throughout Italy. It will show
that, ground down as the people have been for centuries, the old fire of
the Romans is not extinct. This will be but the beginning. When it is
seen that the despots cannot maintain their authority save by the aid of
foreign powers, there will be revolt after revolt until Italy is free.
There were some grand lines you once told me as we sat round a camp
fire, Percival, that exactly express my thoughts."
"I know what you mean," the Englishman said. "They were Byron's:
For freedom's battle once begun,
Bequeath'd by bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, is ever won."
"They are splendid and true," Garibaldi said enthusiastically. "So shall
it be with us. This is our first battle--we cannot hope to win it; but
our guns will tell Italy and Europe that we have awoke at last, that,
after being slaves so long that we had come to be looked upon as a
people content to be ruled by despots, we are still men, and that,
having once begun the fight for freedom, we will maintain it until
freedom is won."
"And now, what are your plans for to-morrow?"
"As soon as the French are seen approaching the city the church bells
will ring and the alarm be beaten in the streets. The word has been
passed round that all are to assemble instantly. The troops that have
been organised will first pour out; the rest will follow with such arms
as they have. We shall simply rush upon the French. In such a fight
there is no need for manoeuvring; and it is well that it is so, for
there the French would be our superiors. We shall simply attack and
drive them back. We may take it for granted that, being boastful
creatures and believing that they have but to show themselves and we
shall lay down our arms and implore their mercy, they will be wholly
taken by surprise and disconcerted by our onslaught. Can you recommend
anything better, my friend?"
"No. With such a force as yours, newly raised and wholly unused to
discipline, it is probable that at the first engagement, and with the
advantage of surprise, they will, as you say, drive back the French; but
you will have to adopt different tactics afterwards: to stand on the
defensive and prevent their entering the city as long as possible, and
to defend every street and lane, as the Spaniards did at Saragossa. They
may take the city at last, but at so terrible a cost of blood that we
may be sure that when you rise again the French people will not allow
another expedition to be undertaken for a cause in which they have no
concern, and which would entail such heavy sacrifices."
"Will you have a separate command, Percival? You have but to choose one,
and it is yours."
"I will fight by your side," the Englishman said briefly. "I know that I
shall get my full share of the work then."
"And you, professor?"
"I shall go out with the rest. The students have elected me their
captain, and I shall, of course, lead them. It is a simple matter. I see
the enemy in front, and I go at them. Even I, a man of peace all my
life, understand that. I shall have with me at least a dozen of my
colleagues, and if I am shot they can direct our boys as well as I can."
"Good!" Garibaldi said. "If I thought that you could keep the students
in hand, and then dash into the thick of it if you see our men wavering
anywhere, I should say do so; but I know that it would be impossible.
They will long to be in the front rank and to set an example to others,
and I shall feel confident that, wherever they may be, there will be no
faltering. Your chief difficulty will be in restraining their ardour.
Well, my friends, I have many things to arrange, so must be going. You
will find me in my quarters at nine o'clock this evening, Percival. The
officers and the heads of the various quarters of the town are to meet
me there at that hour, to arrange where the assembling-places are to be
when the alarm is given, and the streets through which they must move
when we see at which point the French are going to attack us."
"I will come down with him," the professor said. "I will send word to my
colleagues where to meet me an hour later, so that I can inform them of
the arrangements."
And with a nod Garibaldi, who had been unanimously elected general of
the Roman forces, strolled away.
Leonard Percival had been a captain in the British army, but having
become tired of garrison life during the long peace, had sold out in
1837, and sailed for South America, where there were always
opportunities for a man of action to distinguish himself. He took part
in the struggle of Rio Grande for separation from Brazil. Here he first
made the acquaintance of Garibaldi, and shared with him in the many
perilous adventures and desperate fights of that war. Becoming disgusted
with the factions and intrigues that were rampant at Rio, he left the
service of the little republic and returned to England.
He was the second son of a wealthy English gentleman, who had viewed
with much disapproval his leaving the army and undertaking the life of a
soldier of fortune when there was no occasion for his doing so, as he
had an allowance amply sufficient for him to live upon. His father was
not much surprised when, after staying for a month at home, Leonard told
him that, having a taste for art, he had made up his mind to adopt it as
a profession, and should go out to Rome to study. This seemed to him
better than wandering about the world fighting in quarrels in which he
had no concern, and he had no valid reply to his son when the latter
said,--
"You see, father, you cannot expect me to spend my life in absolute
laziness. I must be doing something. The life of a club lounger is the
last I should choose. I have no liking for a country life--if I had I
would go out to Australia or Canada and settle; but I know that in a few
months I should be home again, for I could not stand a life of solitude.
If you can suggest anything better I shall be ready, as far as possible,
to be guided by your wishes."
"You may as well have your own way, Leonard. I suppose it will come to
that in the end, and therefore you may as well do it first as last; and
at any rate, a few months in Rome will be a change for you, and I shall
not be expecting by every post a communication saying that you have been
killed."
So Captain Percival went to Rome, without any idea of staying there more
than a year. His plans, however, were changed when he met and fell in
love with Muriel, the only child of Professor Forli, a man of almost
European reputation for his learning and attainments. His wooing had
been an uneventful one. His income was amply sufficient, in the
professor's eyes, to keep his daughter in comfort, and, moreover, the
master under whom Leonard was studying gave an excellent account of his
ability and industry, and in 1842 the marriage took place. Previous to
this Leonard had obtained his father's consent to his intended marriage,
although not his approval.
"I consider that it is one more piece of folly," he wrote. "There was no
reason in the world why you should not have settled at home and made a
good marriage. I had specially hoped that this would have been the case,
as Tom still remains a bachelor. However, there are some redeeming
points in the matter. I have, through a friend, who is a member of the
Athenæum, learned that Professor Forli's name is well known, and that he
is considered one of the most learned men in Italy. In the next place,
the young lady's mother is, as you have told me, an Englishwoman of good
family, and her daughter is therefore only half an Italian. From your
description of her, allowing for the usual exaggeration in such cases,
she takes after her mother, and might pass anywhere as of unmixed
English blood, so I may hope that I shall not have black-haired, swarthy
little grandchildren running about. I shall add a couple of hundred a
year to your allowance, as I always intended to do when you married."
A year later Captain Percival brought his wife home to England, and
stayed there for some time; and here a son was born, who was christened
Frank, after his grandfather. Whatever objections the latter might at
first have felt to his son's marriage, they were altogether removed by
this visit; neither in appearance nor in speech did his wife betray her
foreign origin, for her mother had always conversed with her in English,
and she spoke it without the slightest accent. She was now twenty, was
strikingly handsome, and very graceful in her movements. He would gladly
have kept her and his son with him; but when they had consented to her
marriage, her parents had bargained that she should, at any rate, spend
a large portion of her time with them, as they had no other children.
Moreover, her husband was now devoted to art, and although he had only
been working for two years, his pictures were already beginning to
attract attention.
Mr. Percival was, therefore, obliged to content himself with the promise
that they would come over every year for at least four months. The
arrangement, however, was not carried out, for, a few months after their
return to Italy, Mr. Percival died suddenly. His death made no
difference pecuniarily to his son, as he had settled upon him a sum
sufficient to produce an income equal to that which he had before been
allowed. His elder brother came out a year later, and stayed for a few
weeks with him.
"You must send this little chap over to England to be educated,
Leonard," he had said, "if you will persist in sticking in this rotten
old city. I don't suppose I shall ever marry; and if not, of course some
day he will come in for the property."
"But why on earth shouldn't you marry, Tom? You know what a trouble it
was to our father that you did not do so--it was a real grievance to
him."
"Well, I should really have been glad to oblige him; but somehow or
other I never saw any girl whom I earnestly desired to make my wife, or,
as I suppose you would call it, fell in love with. I very much prefer
knocking about in my yacht, or travelling, to settling down. Of course I
always spent a month or two, twice a year, at my father's, and was in
town three months in the season--that is to say, when I did not get sick
of it. Then I either went up the Mediterranean or to the West Indies, or
knocked about round England for three or four months, and finished the
year with a run up the Nile, or out to India or China. Now I feel even
less inclined to marry than I did before, for if I did, it would simply
mean eight months in the year down in the country, and four in London.
Of course, if I ever do fall in love--and at forty it is hardly
likely--I shall marry; I don't bind myself in any way to remain single.
Anyhow, I am glad that you are married, and that, when I go, there will
be another Frank Percival, who we must hope will be of a more settled
disposition than either of us, to reign in the old place."
So things had gone on quietly until, in 1848, the revolution in Paris
was followed by an upheaval all over Europe. The ascent of Pius IX. to
the papal chair was hailed by the liberal party in Italy as the
commencement of a new era. He was accredited, and not unjustly, with
liberal views, and it was believed that he would introduce reforms into
the Papal States, and act as a centre round which patriots could rally.
Unfortunately, the party of reform in Italy was divided into two
classes; of one of these the Marquis d'Azeglio was the leading spirit;
he was a moderate reformer, and looked to a union of Italy under a
constitutional monarch. Carlo Alberto, the King of Sardinia, seemed to
him the only man who could assume that position, and for years d'Azeglio
had worked quietly to this end.
A more violent spirit was however working with as much zeal and energy
in another direction. Mazzini was an extreme republican of the narrowest
kind; he was in communication with men of the same type in France, and
had formed secret societies all over Italy. He and those with him were
anxious to obtain the countenance and prestige which a Pope of advanced
liberal opinions would give to their party, and Pius IX. was received
with enthusiastic acclamations by the republican party of Rome. But,
liberally inclined as he was, he shrank from committing himself wholly
to the reformers. He was a weak man; and although his vanity was
gratified by his reception, and although he had sincerely desired to
introduce broad reforms, he hesitated when called upon to carry those
reforms into action. The King of Sardinia had been pushed forward by the
Mazzinians, until he compromised himself, and made advances to the Pope,
when in 1847 Austria violated the Papal territories at Ferrara. But the
Pope hesitated. His army was already near the frontier; but he declared
that he had no intention of making war, and desired only to protect his
territory.
The news of the movement had reached Monte Video; and Garibaldi,
believing that the Pope would stand forth as the champion for the
freedom of Italy, wrote, offering his services and those of his
followers, the greater part of whom were Italians who had been exiled
for their political opinions. No answer was received from him; and
Garibaldi took the matter into his own hands, and with eighty-five
Italians sailed for Europe. On arriving at Alicante he learned that a
revolution had broken out in Paris, that Carlo Alberto had given his
people a constitution, that Lombardy and Venice had risen, that the
Milanese had driven the Austrians out of the city, that there were
insurrections in Vienna and Berlin, that Tuscany and Rome were sending
thousands of volunteers to fight in the national cause, and that even
Ferdinand of Naples had promised his people a constitution. Garibaldi
was unavoidably detained for some time at Nice, his native town, and
before he was able to move a change had set in.
The Lombards and Venetians had both quarrelled among themselves.
Mazzini's party were struggling against those who would have made Carlo
Alberto King of Italy. The Piedmontese, after brilliant successes at
first, were obliged to retreat. The Roman volunteers had been forced to
capitulate. Garibaldi went to see the king, and offer to act with his
volunteers in his service; but his application was slighted, and this
threw him into the hands of the revolutionary party. It was a grievous
mistake on the part of the king; but the latter could not forget that
Garibaldi had been a rebel against him, nor could Garibaldi forget that
it was the king who had sentenced him to death and had sent him into
exile. He therefore hurried to Milan, where he was received with
enthusiasm. The king moved to the aid of Milan, against which the
Austrians were advancing; but in that city the party of Mazzini was
predominant, and they refused to open the gates to him; and early in
August the king came to terms with the Austrians, and Milan surrendered.
For a time Garibaldi's following alone maintained the war. Carrying on a
guerilla warfare, he, with fifteen hundred men, was surrounded by five
thousand Austrians, but he effected a marvellous retreat, and retired
into Switzerland. Here he was taken ill, and was forced to rest for some
months. He then went to Genoa. The extraordinary skill and bravery which
he had shown during the campaign induced the King of Sardinia to offer
him the rank of general in his army, that being the grade that he had
held in Monte Video. But Garibaldi refused, and with two hundred and
fifty volunteers started for Venice, which was besieged by the
Austrians. On hearing, however, of the rising in Rome and the flight of
the Pope--who had now abandoned his liberal professions, and had thrown
himself into the hands of Austria--Garibaldi changed his course, and his
ranks being swollen as he marched along, he arrived at Rome at the head
of fifteen hundred men. Here he met his comrade in the struggle at Rio
and Monte Video.
During his six years' residence in Rome Captain Percival had imbibed
that hatred of the Austrians and detestation of the despotisms under
which the Italian States groaned, that was felt by all with whom he came
in contact, his father-in-law, Professor Forli, being one of the leaders
of the liberal party in Rome. His wife, too, was an enthusiast in the
cause; and although he felt no sympathy whatever with Mazzini and the
revolutionary party, he was, even before the arrival of Garibaldi,
resolved to take up arms should Rome be attacked. The presence of
Garibaldi still further confirmed this resolution; but as soon as he
heard that a French expedition had set sail, he had insisted that his
wife and child should leave the city, for he by no means shared the
general belief that the French were coming as allies. Her mother
accompanied her to Leghorn, for the professor was as anxious as Percival
that his wife and daughter should be in a place of safety.
They were most reluctant to go, and only yielded when Signor Forli and
Captain Percival declared that their presence in Rome would hamper their
movements and render it impossible for them to make their escape if the
city should be taken, which both foresaw would be the case. They
promised that when they found all was lost they would leave the city and
join them at Leghorn. Madame Forli was to take her maiden name again;
and as two English ladies staying at an hotel at Leghorn they would be
safe from annoyance even if a French or Austrian army marched through
the town. The professor spoke English well, and once out of the city he
and Leonard would be able to pass as two English tourists travelling
from Naples to Florence.
Had the Pope sought refuge in Capua or Malta, events might have taken a
very different turn; but he threw himself into the hands of the King of
Naples, and went the length of pronouncing him to be a model monarch, a
pattern to the rest of Europe, and this at a time when the disclosures
that had been made respecting the horrible dungeons into which all
Neapolitans suspected of entertaining liberal views were thrown, were
filling Europe with horror.
This change of front extinguished the hopes of those who had imagined
that the Pope would become the centre of liberal thought in Italy,
rendered the people of the papal dominions desperate, and vastly
increased the party of Mazzini and the extreme republicans. On February
9th a constituent assembly was held in Rome, and the republic was
proclaimed. Garibaldi was appointed to defend the frontier. Volunteers
poured in from all parts of Italy, and as the King of Sardinia had again
taken up arms, a force was moving forward to support him, when the news
came of his defeat at Novara, followed by his abdication and the
succession of Victor Emmanuel to the throne. Austria, Naples, and Spain
were now eager to crush the revolution in Rome; but the resolution of
the Romans was unshaken, and they still hoped to be able to maintain
themselves with, as they expected, the aid of France.
The terrible blow that had been inflicted on finding that the French
were coming as enemies, instead of as friends, did not shake their
determination, although it was now with a courage of despair rather than
of hope that they prepared for the conflict. Rome must fall; but at
least it would prove itself worthy of its best traditions, and set an
example that would not be lost upon the peoples of Italy. Anything, they
felt, would be better than the reign of a pope in close alliance with
the tyrant of Naples; and the evening after the French landing saw Rome
tranquil and grimly determined. Doubtless many of those who were
resolved to fight till the last were buoyed up with the hope that in any
case they would be able to make their escape when the action was over.
Rome covered a great extent of ground, and the French army was not of
sufficient strength to form a cordon round it.
Captain Percival had, a fortnight before, sent his finished and
unfinished canvases and all his most valuable belongings down to Civita
Vecchia, and had shipped them for England. He knew the reckless
destruction carried out by an army after a successful assault, and that
possibly, if it came to street to street fighting, a considerable
portion of the city might be burnt. The professor had similarly sent
away his very valuable collection of coins, books, and manuscripts. At
nine o'clock they went down to the mansion that Garibaldi occupied. A
long discussion took place, and routes were decided upon for the various
contingents to follow when the alarm was given. News had been brought in
from time to time during the day as to the movements of the French, and
the point at which they would probably assault was therefore now known.
It would be either at the Porta Cavalleggieri or at the Porta San
Pancrazio.
Captain Percival and the professor returned to the former's house, where
the professor had taken up his residence since his wife had gone to
Leghorn, and sat talking until a late hour. They were roused early the
next morning by the ringing of the great bells of the cathedral, which
were joined almost immediately by those of all the other churches in the
city. Captain Percival had lain down fully dressed, and springing to his
feet, he buckled on a sword, placed a brace of pistols in his belt, and
then ran down to the Porta San Pancrazio, where, as he knew, Garibaldi
would take up his post. The general, indeed, had not slept at all, but,
fearful that the French might attempt an assault under cover of
darkness, kept watch round the western wall, along which he had posted
the men he could most depend upon. Even before the Englishman joined
Garibaldi the roar of the guns on the wall told that the French were
already advancing.
"It is like old times, comrade," Garibaldi said, with a strong grip of
his hand, "only it is on a larger scale than we were accustomed to in
South America. Oudïnot is beginning with a blunder, for he is making for
the Porta Cavalleggieri, which is flanked by the walls of the Vatican.
He is over-confident, and I do not imagine that he expects anything like
a serious resistance. I think we shall certainly beat him back there,
and that then he will attack us here. Will you go to the other gate? All
my old comrades know you, and, indeed, all the volunteers, as you have
assisted to drill them."
Oudïnot, indeed, had believed that the force of regular troops he had
with him would easily brush aside the resistance of a half-armed mob.
Captain Percival hurried away. The volunteers were already gathered on
the walls, and in every street the townspeople were hurrying out, armed
with weapons of all kinds. On the roofs and at the windows of the houses
women were clustered thickly, waving their handkerchiefs and scarves,
and shouting words of encouragement and applause to the men. To the roar
of cannon was now added the rattle of musketry. When he reached the gate
he found a heavy column of volunteers drawn up there, while behind them
was a dense crowd of excited citizens. From the wall he saw the French
advancing; the leading regiment was but a few hundred yards away. They
were moving steadily forward, apparently heedless of the cannon that
thundered on their flank and face. The musketry they could afford to
despise, for they were beyond the distance at which any accurate
shooting was possible; and, indeed, the firing was of the wildest
description, as comparatively few of the men had ever handled a gun
until a few weeks previously. Captain Percival went up to the officer
who was in command, and with whom he was well acquainted. Although the
massive walls still stood, the gates had long since disappeared, their
places being occupied simply by barriers, where the duty on provisions
and goods coming into the city was collected.
"The men are clamouring to be let out," he said. "What do you think,
Captain Percival?"
"I should let them go soon. They are full of dash and enthusiasm at
present, and would fight far better on the offensive than they would if
they are kept stationary. I should keep them in hand till the French are
within seventy or eighty yards of the gate. By that time they will be
answering the fire from the walls, and even those in the front lines,
whose muskets are still loaded, will only have time for one shot before
our men are upon them. I should place three or four hundred of your
steadiest men on the wall here, so that if the sortie is repulsed, they
can cover the retreat by their fire."
"I think that is good advice," the other said. "Will you come down with
me, and tell them that they shall go, but that they must not move till I
give the order, and that no man is to fire until he is within ten yards
of the enemy's line."
It was difficult to make their voices heard above the crack of musketry
and the shouts of the excited crowd; however, their words were passed
from man to man, and so back among the people behind. Now that they knew
that they were to have their way, and that the critical movement was at
hand, the shouting abated, and a stern look of determination settled on
their faces. Leonard Percival joined a group of officers who were at the
head of the volunteers, and the officer in command resumed his place on
the wall, as it was all-important that, if the sortie were repulsed, he
should lead his men down and oppose the entrance of the enemy until the
retiring force had rallied.
It was not long before a roll of musketry broke out, showing that the
assailants were now returning the fire of the Garibaldians on the wall.
It grew louder and louder; and then, when the head of the French column
was some eighty yards away, the officer on the wall gave the order, and
the volunteers followed by the citizens poured out with a mighty shout.
The French halted for a moment in surprise, not having dreamt that the
defenders of the town would venture upon sallying out to attack them.
Then there was a scattered fire of musketry; but most of the barrels
were already empty, and few of the balls took effect. Without replying,
the volunteers rushed forward, opening out as they ran to something like
order. When within ten yards of the French bayonets every man delivered
his fire, and then hurled himself upon the broken ranks. The struggle
was a short one. The weight and impetuosity of the attack, supported as
it was by a surging crowd of excited citizens, was irresistible, and the
regiment broke and fled hastily to the shelter of the troops following
it, leaving the ground strewn with dead and wounded. Then the bugles at
the gate rang out the order to the exulting crowd to retire. The
officers threw themselves in front of the men, and with great difficulty
checked the pursuit, and caused them to withdraw to their original
position behind the wall.
CHAPTER II.
A DESPERATE DEFENCE.
After a short halt the French, having re-formed, changed their course
and marched along parallel to the fortifications. Captain Percival had,
on returning from the sortie, joined the officer on the wall, and
watched alternately the movements of the French and the scene in the
city. This was one of wild excitement--the men cheering and shouting,
shaking each other by the hand, placing their hats on their bayonets,
and waving them in answer to the wild applause of the women on the
housetops. Some, however, were not content at being called back, instead
of being allowed to complete what they considered their partial victory;
forgetting that they would have been met in a very different manner by
the troops in support, who would have been prepared for the attack and
would have reserved their fire until the last moment. As soon as it
became evident that the French intended to make their next move against
the gate of San Pancrazio, the greater portion of the volunteers marched
in that direction, Captain Percival accompanying them.
"You have done well so far," Garibaldi said, as he joined them. "Now it
will be our turn, and we shall have tougher work than you had, for they
will be prepared. I suppose your loss was not heavy?"
"Very trifling indeed; there were but three dead brought in, and there
were some ten or twelve wounded."
"It was just the sort of action to raise the spirits of the men, and
they are all in the humour for fighting. I shall therefore lead them out
here. But we cannot hope to succeed with a rush as you did--they will be
prepared for us this time; the best men would be killed before we
reached them, and the mass behind, but few of whom have guns, would be
simply massacred."
The volunteers, who had undergone a rough sort of drill, were assembled
before the French had concluded their preparations for an assault.
Garibaldi appointed Captain Percival to take charge of the gate, having
with him two hundred of the volunteers, behind whom were the armed
citizens. These clamoured to go out as before; but Garibaldi raised his
hand for silence, and then told them that he would not lead them to a
useless massacre against an army of well-armed soldiers.
"Your duty," he said, "is to remain here. If we have to fall back, you
will open to let us pass. We shall be ready to do our share when
necessary; but the defence of the gate will be for a while entrusted to
you. If the enemy force an entrance, fall upon them as you would upon
wild beasts; their discipline and their arms would be of no great
advantage in a hand-to-hand fight. Each man must fight as he would were
he protecting his family from a band of wolves--hatchet and pike must
meet musket and bayonet, those who have knives must dive among the
throng and use them fearlessly. It is a great charge that we entrust to
you: we go out to fight; you will guard the city and all you hold dear."
A loud cheer showed that he had struck the right chord, and the mob drew
back as he led out some five thousand volunteers. These advanced to
within musket-shot of the enemy, and then scattering, took shelter
behind houses and cottages, walls and ruins. The French cannon opened
fire as the movement was going on. These were answered by the guns on
the walls, and as the French advanced a murderous fire was opened by
their hidden foes. The battle raged for several hours. Sometimes the
French advanced close up to the position held by the Garibaldians, but
as soon as they did so, they were exposed also to the fire from the men
on the walls; and in spite of Captain Percival's efforts, groups of men
made their way down the road and joined the firing line, lying down
until the moment should come when they could spring like wild cats upon
the French.
Once or twice, when the assailants pressed back the Garibaldians in
spite of their efforts, they found themselves presently opposed by a
crowd that seemed to leap from the ground, and who, with wild shouts,
rushed upon them so furiously that they recoiled almost panic-struck
before so unaccustomed an enemy. Men were pulled down, and as Garibaldi
had given strict orders that no French soldier should be killed except
when fighting, these were carried back triumphantly into the city. At
last General Oudïnot, seeing that his troops were making no progress,
and that, even if they could force their way into the city, they would
suffer terribly in street-fighting with such assailants, gave the order
for his men to retire. This they did sullenly, while a roar of
triumphant shouting rose from the volunteers, the men on the walls, and
the crowd that covered every house and vantage-ground, from which a view
of what was passing outside could be obtained.
The Italian loss was only about a hundred men killed and wounded,
whereas the French lost three hundred killed and wounded and five
hundred prisoners. So unprepared was the French general for such a
resistance, that he had to undergo the humiliation of sending in to
Garibaldi to ask him to supply him with surgeons to dress the wounds of
the French soldiers. During the fighting the French artillery had done
far more injury to works of art in Rome than they had inflicted upon the
defenders, as the artillery played principally upon the dome of St.
Peter's and the Vatican, both of which buildings were much damaged.
The joy caused in Rome by this victory was prodigious. Fires blazed that
night on all the hills, every house was illuminated, the people thronged
the streets, shouting and cheering. They had, indeed, much to be proud
of: five thousand almost undrilled volunteers had defeated seven
thousand of the best troops of France.
[Illustration: "WALKING UP AND DOWN THE ROOM LIKE A CAGED LION"]
The French retired at once to Palo, on the road to Civita Vecchia.
Garibaldi gave his troops a few hours' rest, and then moved out to
attack the French, and took up a most advantageous position. His troops
were flushed with victory, while the French were cowed and dispirited;
and he was on the point of attacking, when General Oudïnot sent a
messenger to treat for an armistice, and as a proof of his sincerity
offered to give up Ugo Bassi, a priest who had remained by the side of a
wounded man when the Garibaldians had for a moment retired. Garibaldi
would peremptorily have refused the request, for he was confident that
he should defeat and capture the whole of the French. Mazzini, however,
with his two associates in the triumvirate, still clung to the hope that
the French would aid them, and determined to accept the armistice,
fearing that were the whole French army destroyed, the national feeling
would be so embittered that there would no longer be any hope
whatever of an alliance. Garibaldi protested, declaring that the
armistice would but enable the French reinforcements to arrive. Mazzini,
however, persisted in the decision, and actually released the five
hundred prisoners in exchange for the priest.
The folly of this violent democrat sealed the fate of Rome. Had
Garibaldi been permitted to carry out his plans, the French army would
have been destroyed or made prisoners to a man, and the enthusiasm that
such a glorious victory would have excited throughout all Italy would
have aroused the whole population to burst their bonds. Furious at this
act of folly, Garibaldi and his troops re-entered Rome. He was greeted
with enthusiasm by the people, but disliking such ovations, he slipped
away with Captain Percival to the latter's house. Professor Forli had
taken no part in the fighting outside the walls, but stationing himself
with the troops that manned them, had kept up a vigorous fire whenever
the enemy were within gunshot. After the repulse of the second attack he
had returned home.
"The stupidity of these people is incredible," Garibaldi, who had
scarcely spoken a word since he had turned back towards Rome, burst out,
waving aside the chair that the professor offered him, and walking up
and down the room like a caged lion. "We held the French in the palms of
our hands, and they have allowed them to escape. A fortnight, and we
shall have three times their number to face, and you know what the
result will be. I regard the cause as lost, thrown away by Mazzini--a
man who has never taken part in a battle, who kept himself shut up in
the capital when the fighting was going on, a man of the tongue and not
of action. It is too disgusting. I am a republican; but if a republic
is to be in the hands of men like these, they will drive me to become a
monarchist again. Carlo Alberto was weak, but he was at least a man; he
staked his throne for the cause, and when it was lost, retired. Mazzini
stakes nothing, for he has a safe-conduct; if he loses, he will set to
to intrigue again, careless who may fall or what may come to Italy, if
his own wild ideas cannot prevail; he desires a republic, but it is a
republic that he himself shall manipulate. Well, if it must be, it must.
I am no statesman, but simply a fighting man. I shall fight till the
last; and the failure must rest upon the head of him who has brought it
about."
"It is a bad business," Captain Percival said quietly. "I thoroughly
agree with you, Garibaldi, in all you say; but as you know of old, I am
not much given to words. I began this thing, and shall go through with
it. I think, as you do, the cause is lost; but every blow we strike will
find an echo in Italy, and a harvest will grow from the seeds some day.
As to Mazzini and his two companions, I am not surprised. When you stir
up muddy water, the scum will at first rise to the top. So it was in the
first throes of the French Revolution, so it is here; the mob orators,
the schemers, come to power, and there they remain until overthrown by
men of heart and action. After Robespierre and Marat came Napoleon, a
great man whom I acknowledge I admire heartily, enemy though he was of
England; after Mazzini Italy may find her great men. I know you do not
like Cavour; I admire him immensely. He is obliged to be prudent and
cautious now; but when the time comes he will be regarded as the
champion of free Italy; and from what I have heard of him, the young
King Victor Emmanuel will be a sovereign worthy of him."
"I hope it may prove so," Garibaldi said shortly; "at present the
prospect does not seem to me a fair one. And you, professor?"
"I shall carry out my plans, and when Rome falls, as fall it doubtless
will, I shall, if I escape, join my wife at Leghorn, and go and
establish myself in England. I have friends and correspondents there,
and I have my son-in-law, who has promised me a home. Here I could not
stay--I am a marked man; and the day that the Pope enters in triumph I
should be consigned to a dungeon under St. Angelo."
"There should be no difficulty in escaping," Garibaldi said. "With
fifteen miles of wall it would need fifty thousand men to surround them;
and the French will want all their strength at the point where they
attack us."
It was evident that some time must elapse before there would be any
change in the situation at Rome. Mazzini was sending despatches to Ledru
Rollin and the French Assembly, imploring them to abstain from
interference that would lead to the destruction of the Roman Republic;
and until these could be acted upon, or, on the other hand, fresh troops
arrived from France, matters would be at a standstill. In the meantime,
danger threatened from another quarter; for the King of Naples was
preparing to move with ten thousand men to reinstate the Pope. This
force, with twenty pieces of cannon, had advanced as far as Albano.
Three days after the battle, Garibaldi told Captain Percival that he was
about to start that evening with four thousand men to meet the
Neapolitan army, and asked him to accompany him.
"The troops will not be warned till an hour before we set out. It is
important that no whisper shall reach the enemy as to our intentions or
strength."
"I shall be glad to go with you," the Englishman said. "After the way
your men fought against the French, I have no doubt that they will make
short work of the Neapolitans, however great the odds against them.
Bomba is hated by his own subjects; and it is hardly likely that they
will fight with any zeal in his cause. They are very different foes from
the French."
Accordingly, at eight o'clock on the evening of May 4th, Captain
Percival mounted and joined Garibaldi and his staff, and they rode to
Tivoli, halting among the ruins of Adrian's Villa.
The next morning scouts were sent off towards Albano, and returned in
the evening with the news that the Neapolitans were still there, and
showed no signs of any intention to advance, the news of the defeat of
the French having, no doubt, greatly quenched King Ferdinand's ardour.
On the 8th the Garibaldians moved to Palestrina, and the general
despatched a body of men to drive back the scattered parties of
Neapolitans who were raiding the country. This was done with little
loss, the Neapolitans in all cases retiring hastily when approached.
Garibaldi had information that evening that orders had been given for
the main body of the enemy to advance and attack him on the following
day. The information proved correct; and before noon the Neapolitan
force was seen approaching, seven thousand strong. Garibaldi had no
cannon with him, having set out in the lightest marching order. He
distributed a portion of his force as skirmishers, keeping the rest in
hand for the decisive moment. The Neapolitan artillery opened fire, and
the main body advanced in good order; but as soon as a heavy fire was
opened by the skirmishers, much confusion was observed in their ranks.
Two other parties were at once sent out; and these, taking every
advantage of cover, soon joined in the fray, opening a galling fire upon
each flank.
Several times the Neapolitans attempted to advance, urged on by their
officers; but the skirmishing line in their front was strengthened from
the reserves whenever they did so, until the whole of the Garibaldians,
with the exception of a thousand of the steadiest troops, were engaged,
and an incessant fire was maintained against the heavy ranks of the
enemy, whose artillery produced but little effect against their almost
unseen foes. For three hours the conflict continued; then, as the
Garibaldian reserve advanced, the confusion among the enemy reached a
point at which it could no longer be controlled, and Ferdinand's army
fled like a flock of sheep. Garibaldi and his staff had exposed
themselves recklessly during the fight, riding about among their troops,
encouraging them, and warning them not to be carried away by their
impetuosity into making an attack, until the enemy were thoroughly
shaken and the orders issued for a general charge.
A heavy fire was maintained upon the staff by the Neapolitans; and it
seemed to them that Garibaldi had a charmed life, for although several
of the staff fell, he continued to ride up and down as if altogether
oblivious of the rain of bullets. He did not, however, escape unscathed,
being wounded both in the hand and foot. The fugitives did not halt
until they had crossed the frontier into Neapolitan territory. The
Garibaldians remained for two or three days at Palestrina; and seeing
that the Neapolitans showed no signs of an intention to advance again,
returned by a rapid march to Rome.
Mazzini's efforts had been to some extent successful. The French
Assembly declared that for France to aid in suppressing a people
determined to obtain their freedom was altogether in contradiction with
the condition on which the republic had been instituted, and sent M. de
Lesseps as an envoy to Rome. Napoleon, however, was of opinion that the
reverse to the French arms must be wiped out, and on his own authority
despatched large reinforcements to Oudïnot.
To the indignation of Garibaldi's friends and of the greater part of the
population of Rome, it was found, on the return of the force to the
capital, that, in spite of the brilliant successes that had been gained,
Mazzini and the demagogues had superseded him in his command, and had
appointed Colonel Roselli over his head. This step was the result of
their jealousy of the popularity that Garibaldi had gained. His friends
advised him not to submit to so extraordinary a slight; but the general
simply replied that a question of this kind had never troubled him, and
that he was ready to serve, even as a common soldier, under any one who
would give him a chance of fighting the enemy of his country. On the
14th the Neapolitan army again advanced and occupied Palestrina; and the
Roman army, now ten thousand strong, marched out on the 16th. Garibaldi,
with two thousand men, moved in advance. Although Roselli was nominally
in command of the army, he was conscious of Garibaldi's greater
abilities, and deferred, on all points, to the opinion of the man who
was regarded by all as being still their Commander-in-chief.
When within two miles of Velletri Garibaldi met a strong column of
Neapolitans; these, however, after but a slight resistance, took to
flight, and shut themselves up in the town. Garibaldi sent back for
reinforcements, but none arrived until too late in the day for the
attack to be made; and in the morning it was found that the enemy had
evacuated the place, the soldiers being so cowed by their superstitious
fear of Garibaldi that the officers in vain attempted to rally them, and
they fled in a disorderly mob. The panic reached the other portion of
the army, and before morning the whole had again crossed the frontier.
Garibaldi, at the head of his division, followed them up; and receiving
authority to carry the war into the enemy's country, was marching upon
Naples, when he was recalled in all haste to aid in the defence of Rome,
Oudïnot having given notice, in spite of a treaty agreed upon between M.
de Lesseps, on the part of the French Assembly, and Mazzini, that he
would attack Rome on Monday, June 4th.
Oudïnot was, however, guilty of an act of gross treachery, for, relying
upon his intimation, the city was lulled into a sense of security that
no attack would be made until the day named, whereas before daybreak on
the 3rd his troops stole up and took possession of the buildings just
outside the gate of San Pancrazio, and, before the Roman troops could
assemble, captured the Porta Molle, after a desperate resistance by a
few men who had gathered together on the alarm being given. The firing
was the first intimation that Rome received of the treacherous
manoeuvre of Oudïnot. Again the church bells pealed out, and the
populace rushed to defend their walls. Garibaldi felt that the
occupation by the enemy of two great villas, a short distance from the
wall, would enable them to place their batteries in such close proximity
to the San Pancrazio gate that it was necessary at all hazards to
recapture them; and, with his brave Lombard volunteers, he sallied out
and attacked the French desperately.
All day long the fight continued, both parties being strongly reinforced
from time to time; but in fighting of this kind the discipline of the
French soldiers, and the military knowledge of their officers, gave them
a great advantage over the Italians, who fought with desperate bravery,
but without that order and community of effort essential in such a
struggle. In vain did Garibaldi and Colonel Medici, the best of his
officers, expose themselves recklessly in their endeavours to get their
men to attack in military order and to concentrate their efforts at the
given point; in vain did the soldiers show a contempt for death beyond
all praise. When night fell the French still held possession of the
outposts they had gained, and the Italians fell back within the walls.
That night Garibaldi held a council of war, at which Captain Percival
was present. The latter and Colonel Medici were strongly of opinion that
a renewal of the fighting of that day would be disastrous. The loss had
already been very great, and it had been proved that, however valiantly
they fought, the volunteers were unable to wrest the strong positions
held by a superior force of well-disciplined men; for the French army
now numbered forty thousand, while that of the defenders was but twelve
thousand, and of these more than half had joined within the last three
weeks. A series of such failures as those they had encountered would
very quickly break the spirit of the young troops, and would but
precipitate the end. These opinions prevailed, and it was decided that
for the present they should remain on the defensive, maintaining a heavy
cannonade from the walls, and making occasional sorties to harass the
besiegers. In the meantime, the bridge across the Tiber should be
destroyed, and, if possible, mines should be driven to blow up the
batteries that would be erected by the French under cover of the
positions they held.
These tactics were followed out. The French engaged upon the erection of
the batteries were harassed by a continuous cannonade. Sorties were
frequently made, but these were ere long abandoned; the loss suffered on
each occasion being so heavy that the troops no longer fought with the
courage and enthusiasm that had so animated them during the first day's
fighting. The attempt to blow up the bridge across the river by means of
a barge loaded with explosives failed, and none of the defenders
possessed the knowledge that would have enabled them to blow in the
centres of the arches. The mines were equally unsuccessful, as the
French countermined, and by letting in the water formed a streamlet that
ran into the Tiber, filled the Italian works, and compelled the
defenders to desist from their labours. Nevertheless, the progress of
the siege was hindered; and although it was certain that the city, if
unaided, must fall ere long, Mazzini still clung to the hope that the
treaty made by Lesseps and carried by him to Paris would be recognised.
This last hope was crushed by the arrival of a French envoy with the
declaration that the French Government disavowed any participation in
the Convention signed by M. de Lesseps.
Even Garibaldi now admitted that further resistance would only bring
disaster upon the city, and cause an absolutely useless loss of life.
Mazzini and his two colleagues persisted in their resolution to defend
the town to the last, even if the French laid it in ashes, and they even
reproached Garibaldi with cowardice. On the night of the 21st the French
gained possession of the San Pancrazio gate, having driven a passage up
to it unnoticed by the defenders. They at once seized the wall and
captured two bastions, after a desperate defence by Garibaldi. They then
planted cannon upon these and began to bombard the city. Twelve guns
were also planted in a breach that had been effected in the wall, and
terrible havoc was made among the villas and palaces in the western part
of the city.
Roselli proposed that the whole defending force should join in an attack
on the French batteries; but to that Garibaldi would not consent, on the
grounds that these could not be carried without immense loss, and that,
even if captured, they could not be held against the force the French
would bring up to retake them. Gradually the assailants pushed their way
forward, encountering a determined resistance at the capture of the
Villa Savorelli. On the evening of the 27th no fewer than four hundred
of its defenders fell by bayonet wounds, showing how desperately they
had contested every foot of the advance. On the morning of the 30th
three heavy columns of French advanced simultaneously, and carried the
barricades the Romans had erected. Garibaldi, with the most determined
of his men, flung himself upon the enemy; and for a time the desperation
with which they fought arrested the advance. But it was a last effort,
and Garibaldi sent to Mazzini to say that further resistance was
impossible.
He was summoned before the triumvirate, and there stated that, unless
they were resolved to make Rome a second Saragossa, there was no
possible course but to surrender. In the end the triumvirate resigned,
issuing a proclamation that the republic gave up a defence which had
become impossible. The assembly then appointed Garibaldi as dictator,
and he opened negotiations with the French. So enthusiastic were the
citizens that, in spite of the disasters that had befallen them, many
were still in favour of erecting barricades in every street and
defending every house. The majority, however, acquiesced in Garibaldi's
decision that further resistance would be a crime, since it would only
entail immense loss of life and the destruction of the city. For three
days negotiations were carried on, and then Garibaldi, with four
thousand men, left the city and marched for Tuscany, while the French
occupied Rome. But in Tuscany the patriots met with but a poor
reception, for the people, though favourable, dared not receive them.
The French had followed in hot pursuit; the Austrians in Tuscany were on
the look-out for them; and at last, exhausted and starving, they took
refuge in the little republic of San Marino. Here they were kindly
received; but an Austrian army was advancing, and the authorities of the
republic were constrained to petition that the Garibaldians, now reduced
to but fifteen hundred men, should be allowed to capitulate, and that
they themselves should not be punished for having given them refuge.
These terms were granted, but the Archduke insisted upon Garibaldi
himself surrendering. The general, however, effected his escape with his
wife and twelve followers, embarking on board a fishing-boat, and they
reached the mouth of the Po; the rest of the band were permitted by the
Austrians to return to their homes. Garibaldi, alone, with his dying
wife, was able to conceal himself among some bushes near the river; his
companions were all taken by the Austrians and shot. Nine other boats,
laden with his followers, could not get off before the pursuing
Austrians arrived; and a heavy fire being directed upon them, they were
forced to surrender. Garibaldi's faithful wife, who had been his
companion throughout all his trials, died a few days later. The Austrian
pursuit was so hot that he was forced to leave her body; and after many
dangers, he reached Genoa. He was not allowed to remain in Sardinia; and
from thence took ship to Liverpool, and there embarked for New York.
Fortunately for Captain Percival, he and Professor Forli had, when on
June 27th Garibaldi himself recognised that all further resistance was
useless, determined to leave the city. When he stated his decision to
Garibaldi, the latter warmly approved.
"You have done all that could be done, comrade," he said; "it would be
worse than folly for you to remain here, and throw away your life. Would
that all my countrymen had fought as nobly for freedom as you have done,
for a cause that is not yours!"
"I have a right to consider it so, having made Rome my home for years,
and being married to the daughter of a Roman. However, we may again
fight side by side, for assuredly this will not be the last time that an
attempt will be made to drive out the despots; and I feel sure that
Italy will yet be free. I trust that you do not mean to stay here until
it is too late to retire. You must remember that your life is of the
greatest value to the cause, and that it is your duty, above all things,
to preserve it for your country."
"I mean to do so," Garibaldi said. "As soon as all see that further
resistance is useless, I shall leave Rome. If I find that any spark of
life yet remains in the movement, I shall try to fan it into flame; if
not, I shall again cross the Atlantic until my country calls for me."
That evening Captain Percival and the professor left the town. There
was no difficulty in doing so, as the whole French force was
concentrated at the point of attack. The professor had exchanged his
ordinary clothes for some of his companion's, and their appearance was
that of two English tourists, when in the morning they entered Ostia, at
the mouth of the Tiber, by the road leading from Albano. As many
fugitives from Rome had, during the past month, embarked from the little
port, and it was no unusual thing for English tourists to find their way
down there, they had no difficulty in chartering a fishing-craft to take
them to Leghorn, it being agreed that they should be landed a mile or
two from the town, so that they could walk into it without attracting
any attention, as they would assuredly be asked for passports were they
to land at the port.
The voyage was altogether unattended by incident; and on landing they
made a detour and entered the town from the west, sauntering quietly
along, as if they had merely been taking a walk in the country. Ten
minutes later they entered the lodging that Madame Forli had taken,
after staying for a few days at an hotel. Great indeed was the joy which
their arrival excited. The two ladies had been suffering terrible
anxiety since the fighting began at Rome, and especially since it was
known that the French had obtained possession of one of the gates, and
that a fierce struggle was going on. They were sure their husbands would
keep their promise to leave the city when the situation became
desperate; but it was too likely that Captain Percival might have
fallen, for it was certain that he would be in the thick of the fighting
by the side of Garibaldi. It was, then, with rapturous delight that they
were greeted, and it was found that both were unharmed.
It was at once decided to start by a steamer that would leave the next
day. Both the ladies possessed passports: Muriel that which had been
made out for her husband and herself on their return from their visit to
England; while her mother had one which the professor had obtained for
both of them when the troubles first began, and he foresaw that it was
probable he might have to leave the country. Therefore no difficulty was
experienced on this score; and when the party went on board the next day
the documents were stamped without any questions being asked. Not the
least delighted among them to quit Leghorn was Frank, who was now four
years old. He had found it dull indeed in their quiet lodging at
Leghorn, and missed his father greatly, and his grandfather also, for
the professor was almost as fond of the child as its parents.
There were but few passengers besides themselves, for in the disturbed
state of Italy, and, indeed, of all Europe, there were very few English
tourists in 1848; and even those who permanently resided in Italy had
for the most part left. The passengers, therefore, were, with the
exception of the two ladies and Captain Percival, all Italians, who
were, like Signor Forli, leaving because they feared that the liberal
opinions they had ventured to express--when it seemed that with the
accession of a liberal pontiff to the papal chair better times were
dawning for Italy--would bring them into trouble now it was but too
evident that the reign of despotism was more firmly established than
ever.
The steamer touched at Genoa, and here the greater portion of her
passengers left, among them Professor Forli's party. They took train to
Milan, where they stopped for a few days, crossed the Alps by the St.
Gothard's Pass, spent a fortnight in Switzerland, and then journeyed
through Bâle, down the Rhine to Cologne, and thence to England. They
were in no hurry, for time was no object to any of them, as they were
well supplied with money; and after the excitement and trouble of the
last few months, the quiet and absence of all cause for uneasiness was
very pleasant to them. On their arrival at Tom Percival's town residence
in Cadogan Place sad news awaited them. Only a fortnight before, his
yacht had been run down at sea, and he and the greater part of the crew
had perished.
CHAPTER III.
TROUBLES.
The death of Tom Percival naturally made a great difference to his
brother's position. He was now a large land-owner, with a fine place in
the country and a house in town. The next nine years of his life were
unmarked by any particular incident. Signor Forli and his wife were
permanently established in Cadogan Place. The professor had never been
accustomed to a country life, and in London he was able to indulge in
all his former pursuits. He had always laid by a certain amount of his
income, and could have lived in some comfort in London, as until the
troubles began he had received, in addition to his modest salary as a
professor, the rents of a property he possessed near Naples, of which
place he was a native. But neither Captain Percival nor his wife would
hear of his setting up an establishment of his own.
"We shall not be up in town above three months of the year at the
outside," the former said; "and of course Muriel will always want to
have you with us for that time, for I know very well that you will
seldom tear yourself from your work and come down and stay with us in
the country. It will be far better for us that the house shall be always
used, instead of being left for nine months in the year to caretakers.
You can fit up the library with cases for your coins and manuscripts.
You have already made the acquaintance of many of the scientific and
learned men you formerly corresponded with, and will soon get a very
pleasant society of your own. It will be better in all respects. You can
shut up the rooms you don't use, while the servants whom I keep to look
after the house must in any case be told to consider you as their
master; and you can, if you choose, get a couple of Italian servants as
your own special domestics." And so, after much argument, it was
settled, and for some years things went on to the satisfaction of all.
When ten years old Frank was sent to a preparatory school for Harrow,
and three years later to the great school itself. Just at this time the
professor determined to pay a visit to Italy. Since the fall of Rome
everything had gone on quietly there; and although persons suspected of
liberal ideas had been seized and thrown into prison without any public
inquiry, he considered that now that he had been settled in England for
years, and had become a naturalised British subject, he could without
any risk go over to make an effort to obtain a reversal of the
confiscation of his property in the Neapolitan territory. Before
starting he had called upon the official representative of the
Neapolitan government, and had been assured by him that his passport as
a British subject would be respected, and that if he refrained from
taking any part in politics he could travel in King Ferdinand's
territories without any fear of his movements being in any way
interfered with.
Up to this time Captain Percival and his wife had been strongly against
the proposed visit, but after the professor had received this official
assurance they believed with him that he could in perfect safety
undertake the journey. He wrote on his arrival at Naples, stating that
he had, as soon as he landed, called upon one of the ministers, and
reported to him the assurance that the envoy in London had given him,
and had been told that, while expressing no opinion upon the probability
of his obtaining a reversal of the confiscation of his estate, there
could be no objection whatever to his endeavouring to do so, but that he
did not think the government would authorise his establishing himself
permanently in the kingdom, as his well-known political opinions would
naturally render him obnoxious. He had given his assurance that he had
no intention whatever of remaining beyond the time necessary for the
purpose for which he had come; that he had now permanently settled in
England, and had only come over for the purpose that he had specified;
and that on no account would he hold any political discussions with such
personal friends as he had in Italy, or give any expression whatever of
his own views. He wrote that, as he had said before starting, he did not
intend to call upon any of his former acquaintances, as, if he did so,
it might bring them into discredit with the government.
No other letter was received from him. After waiting for three weeks,
Captain Percival wrote to the proprietor of the hotel from which the
previous letter was dated, asking if he was still there, and if not, if
he was aware of his present address. The answer was received in due
time, saying that Professor Forli had gone out one morning, a week after
his arrival, with the intention, he believed, of visiting his former
estate, but that he had not returned. Two days later a person had
arrived bearing a letter from him, saying that he had changed his plans
and should not return to Naples, and requesting that his luggage and
all personal effects should be handed over to the bearer, who would
discharge the amount owing for his bill. He had complied with the
request, and had since received no communication from Professor Forli.
Captain Percival went at once to call upon the minister for foreign
affairs, stated the whole circumstances to him, and the assurance that
the professor had received from the Neapolitan envoy before starting,
and said that he felt sure that, in spite of his assurance and the
protection of his passport as a British subject, his father-in-law had
been seized and thrown into prison.
"If that is the case, a serious wrong has been committed," the minister
said. "But we cannot assume that without some proof. He may have been
seized by some brigands, who by a ruse have obtained possession of his
effects; possibly the person now in possession of the estate, fearing
that he might be ousted from it, has taken these means for suppressing a
claimant who might be dangerous. However, what you have told me is
sufficient for me to commence action, by making a complaint to the
Neapolitan government that a British subject, duly furnished with a
passport, is missing, and requesting that measures shall at once be
taken to ascertain what has become of him."
Correspondence went on for three or four months, the Neapolitan
government protesting that they had made inquiries in every direction,
but had obtained no clue whatever as to Professor Forli's movements from
the time when he left his hotel, and disclaiming any knowledge whatever
of him. It was now January 1858, and Lord Palmerston, who was then prime
minister, took the case up warmly, and Captain Percival had several
interviews with him.
"I quite agree with you, sir," the minister said, "that he is probably
in a Neapolitan dungeon; but at present we have no absolute proof of it;
if we had I should summon Ferdinand to release him under a threat of
war."
"I am quite ready to go out, sir, to make personal inquiries; and if you
could obtain for me an order to visit the various jails and fortresses
in the Neapolitan territories, I may succeed in finding him."
"I will obtain for you such an order," Lord Palmerston said decidedly.
"If they refuse my request, I shall be forced to the conclusion that
they are afraid of your finding him there--not that I think it is likely
you will do so. Indeed I regard it as certain that he would be removed
from any prison before you arrived there, or if still there, that his
dungeon would not be shown to you. At the same time, you would be doing
good work. Already there have been some terrible disclosures as to the
state of the Neapolitan prisons. These, however, have chiefly been made
by men who have been confined there, and have been denounced as
calumnies by the Neapolitan government; but coming from you, armed with
the authority of our foreign office, they could not but make a profound
impression. They might force the authorities to ameliorate the present
state of things, and would certainly enlist the sympathy of the British
public with the cause with which Professor Forli was associated, and for
which I am aware you yourself fought."
A fortnight later Captain Percival was again sent for by the foreign
minister.
"Here," the latter said, "is a royal order from the King of Naples for
you to view any or all the prisons in his dominions without let or
hindrance, in order to assure yourself that Professor Forli is not an
inmate of any of them."
Two days later Captain Percival started. On arriving at Naples, he first
called upon the Neapolitan minister, who expressed himself with some
indignation on the fact that the assurance of the government that they
knew nothing of Professor Forli's disappearance had been doubted; but
stated that they were ready to offer him any facility in his search.
Before commencing this, Captain Percival went out to the professor's
estate, near Capua, and saw the proprietor, who assured him that he had
neither seen nor heard anything of its late owner; and although his
assertions would have weighed but little if unsupported, Captain
Percival's investigations in the town and of several persons upon the
estate all tended to show that the professor had not been seen there.
His appearance was familiar to many, and he could hardly have visited
the place without being recognised. Captain Percival went to see several
of Signor Forli's old friends, upon whom he would almost certainly have
called before going to the estate, and from whom, indeed, he would have
received far more information as to its condition than he would have
obtained by direct application to a man who could not but have regarded
him with hostility; none of them, however, had heard of his return to
Italy.
After stopping two or three days there, he returned to Naples and began
his inspection of the prisons. The Royal order being presented, he was
everywhere received courteously, allowed to inspect them from the lowest
dungeons to the attics under the roofs, and also to hold conversations
with the prisoners. He had no idea that he would actually find the
professor; his great hope was that he should learn from prisoners that
he had been confined there, as this would enable the British government
to demand his instant release. Terrible as had been the descriptions he
had heard of the treatment of the prisoners and the state of the jails,
they fell far short of the reality; and he not only sent detailed
reports to the government, but also to _The Times_, which published them
in full. They were copied into every paper in the kingdom, and created a
general feeling of indignation and disgust.
Failing to obtain the smallest information as to the professor at
Naples, Captain Percival then went down to Salerno, and left there with
the intention of visiting the prisons in Calabria and at Reggio, and
afterwards of crossing into Sicily and trying the gaols there. Four days
after he left Salerno, the servant he had engaged in Naples returned to
the town with the news that the carriage had been attacked by brigands,
and that his master, who always carried a brace of pistols, had offered
a desperate resistance, but had been killed. The horses had been taken
out of the carriage, and they and Captain Percival's luggage had been
carried off to the hills. He himself had been allowed to return. The
Governor of Salerno at once sent the man to Naples; the news was
officially communicated to the British envoy, who telegraphed at once to
London. A message was returned, saying that an official communication
would be addressed to the government, and in the meantime he was to send
down one of the officers of the embassy to inquire into the whole
matter. He was to request the Neapolitan government to furnish an escort
from Salerno, and was also to demand that steps should be taken to
pursue and bring the brigands to justice.
The secretary of the legation had no difficulty in obtaining the order
for an escort; and taking with him the servant who had brought the news,
proceeded to the place where the affair had occurred. The carriage was
found overthrown by the roadside. There were two or three bullet-holes
in it; there was a dark patch evidently caused by blood in the road
close by; and a few yards away was a bloodstained cap, which the servant
recognised as being that of Captain Percival. Following up a track which
led off the main road from here, they came upon some fragments of
letters, among them one on which were the words, "Your loving wife,
Muriel." For two or three days the hills on each side of the track were
searched, but no sign whatever was found of Captain Percival's body. In
the meantime, a strong force of carabinieri searched the mountains, and
three weeks after the return to Naples of the search party from the
legation, came the news that they had surprised and killed a notorious
brigand leader with three of his followers, and had taken prisoner a
fourth. This man was sent to Naples, and there questioned by a judicial
official in the presence of the secretary of the legation.
He acknowledged that he had been one of the party, consisting of their
leader and seven followers, who had attacked the Englishman's carriage.
They had not intended to kill him, but to carry him off for ransom; he,
however, resisted so desperately that he was shot. Although very
seriously wounded, they had carried him up to the mountains, believing
that he would recover, and that they might still make money out of him.
The man himself had been sent down to Salerno to ascertain whether the
authorities were taking any steps to hunt down his capturers. As soon as
he learned that a strong force of carabinieri had been ordered out in
pursuit, he had returned to the hut occupied by his chief. He found that
during his absence the prisoner had died. He had never asked where he
had been buried, for it was a matter that did not concern him. The
contents of the portmanteau had been divided among the party; he was
himself now wearing the boots and one of the shirts of the dead man.
That was all he knew.
The captain of the carabinieri testified that he had found an English
portmanteau and many articles, some of which bore the initials "L. P."
upon them; there was a brace of handsome pistols of English make, which
were used by the chief of the brigands in the fight; and in a cupboard
among other things was the royal order for Captain Percival to visit his
majesty's prisons. A diligent search had been made in the neighbourhood
of the hut, but the grave of the English gentleman had not been
discovered. In due time the brigand was placed on trial, and was
sentenced to imprisonment for life; and so the matter ended, save for
the two widowed women and Frank.
It had been a heavy blow indeed for the lad, who was passionately
attached to his father, and had also loved the professor, who had always
been extremely fond of him. He was at home for Easter when the terrible
news arrived. Neither his mother nor grandmother expressed a doubt that
his father had been murdered; and when the news of the confession of one
of the band and the discovery of Captain Percival's belongings in the
hut of the brigands arrived, they gave up all hope of ever seeing him
again.
Madame Forli, however, while not doubting that Captain Percival had been
killed, believed that the Neapolitan government were at the bottom of
the matter. "I know what the methods of the Neapolitans are," she said;
"and the sensation caused by Leonard's letters to the papers here may
have decided them to put an end by any method to further revelations,
and they may very well have employed these brigands to carry out their
purpose. Every one knows that in many cases these men are in alliance
with the officers of the police; and the latter are well paid to wink at
their doings, and even to furnish them with information of the persons
worth robbing, and to put them on their guard when, as occasionally
happens, a raid is made by the carabinieri in the mountains. A capture
is hardly ever effected; and while there is little chance of a political
prisoner once shut up in their dungeons making his escape, notorious
brigands frequently succeed in doing so. Nobody dares to speak of their
suspicions; but there can be little doubt that the prison officials are
bribed to connive at their escape, knowing well enough that the
government will not trouble over the matter, while on the other hand the
escape of a political prisoner brings disgrace and punishment upon all
the prison officials."
"I cannot think--I will not think so, mother," Muriel exclaimed; "for
were it so, the same treatment might be given to him that has, we have
no doubt, befallen my father. A thousand times better that Leonard
should have been killed, than that he should drag out his existence in
such utter misery as that which he has described as being the lot of
prisoners in the dungeons of Bomba. The brigands may have been set on by
their government. That is possible--I can believe that iniquitous
government to be guilty of anything--but whether Leonard was attacked
merely for plunder, or for ransom, or by the connivance of the
government, I cannot and will not doubt that he is dead; the story of
one of the band can leave no doubt of this, and it is confirmed by his
servant, who saw him fall. Never try to shake my confidence in that,
mother. It was almost more than I could bear to think of my father as
confined in one of those dungeons; if I thought for a moment that
Leonard could be there too, I believe that I should lose my reason."
Frank returned to school after the short holidays. His mother thought
that it would be better so, as the routine of work and play would give
him little time for moping over his loss. He worked harder than he had
ever done at school before; but obtained leave off cricket, and spent
his time out of school in long walks with one or other of his chums.
After the summer holiday he was himself again. He was quieter than he
had been, and held aloof from fun and mischief, but joined in the sports
vigorously, and regained the ground he had lost, and came to be regarded
as likely some day to be one of the representatives of the school.
When it seemed that the search for the body of Captain Percival had
failed, Mrs. Percival wrote to the secretary of the legation in Naples,
saying that she would be glad if her husband's courier would come over
to see her.
"I naturally wish to know," she said, "as much as I can of the last
movements of my husband from the only person who was with him; and I
would willingly bear the expenses of his journey both ways, and pay him
fifty pounds. I did not receive any letter from my husband during the
fortnight preceding his death, and want to learn as much as possible
about him."
The secretary, on receiving the letter, sent the note to the chief of
the police, in whose charge the man had been while the investigations
were proceeding; an answer was returned saying that the man Beppo
Paracini was not now in his charge, but that perhaps he could find him
in the course of a few hours, and would, on doing so, send him to the
legation at once.
Instead of seeing the man himself, however, the officer went to the
director of the secret police. "As this affair has been in your
department rather than in mine, signor, I thought it best to bring you
this note I have just received from the British legation before taking
any steps in the matter."
The official read the note through. "You have done quite right," he
said. "The affair has been a very troublesome one, and now that it has
practically come to an end, it would not do to take any false step in
the matter. You shall hear from me in the course of the day."
He sat thinking deeply for some minutes after the other had left him,
then he touched a bell.
"Luigi," he said, when a man entered, "go and fetch Beppo Paracini; if
he is not in, find where he has gone and follow him."
Half an hour later the courier entered. When before the court he had
been dressed in the fashion affected by his class; now he was in dark,
quiet clothes, and might have been taken for an advocate or notary.
"Beppo," he said, "I thought that we had finished with that troublesome
affair of the Englishman; but there is again occasion for your services
in the same direction. Here is a letter from the secretary of the
British legation saying that he wishes to see you, for that the Signora
Percival has written to him to say that she is anxious to learn more of
the last days of her husband, and is willing to pay your expenses to
England and to give you fifty pounds for your services, if you would be
willing to go to her for a few days. I regard this as a fortunate
circumstance. The woman's husband and her father have been constant
enemies of the kingdom. Percival was a bosom friend of Garibaldi; her
father was also his friend, though not to the same degree. Ever since
they established themselves in England his family, who are unfortunately
rich, have befriended Italian exiles.
"Forli was acquainted with all his compatriots in London, who, like
himself, were men of education and position, and had escaped from
justice. In that house any plot that was on foot, especially if
Garibaldi was a leading spirit in it, would certainly be known. No doubt
the loss of her husband will make this woman more inveterate against us
than ever. I have often wished that I could establish an agent in her
house, to keep me informed of what was going on there, who visited it,
whether any meetings and consultations were held there, from whom they
received letters, and the purport of them, but I have never before seen
my way to it. The woman Forli is herself English, and consequently since
her husband's death no Italian servants have been kept in the house.
This letter gives me the opportunity I have desired. I wish you to go to
the British legation, and to express your willingness to accept the
offer that is made, and if possible to obtain a situation in the house.
"You could represent that you were anxious to obtain a place of any kind
in England, for that, owing to the part that you have taken in the
search for Percival's body--a search which brought about the death of
the brigand Rapini and the breaking up of his band--your life was no
longer safe there from the vengeance of his associates. You can say that
before you became a courier you were in the service of several noble
families--of course you will be provided with excellent
testimonials--and as it was your zeal in her late husband's behalf that
had brought you into this strait, it is quite possible that she may
offer you a post in the household. You can declare that you do not
desire high wages, but simply a shelter. You will, of course, report
yourself on arriving in London to the head of our secret agents there,
and will act generally under his directions. I need not say that you
will be well paid."
"I will gladly accept the mission, signor, for, to say the truth, I am
not without some apprehensions such as you suggest. I have changed my
appearance a good deal; still, I cannot flatter myself that I could not
be detected by any one on the search for me, and I do think that some of
Rapini's band, knowing that I was with the carabinieri, may have vowed
vengeance on me; and, as you know, signor, a man so threatened cannot
calculate on a very long life."
"That is so, Beppo. Then we may consider the matter settled. If you
cannot succeed in obtaining a position in the house of this family, I
shall instruct my agent in London to utilise your services there, at any
rate for the next six months. After that time you may return without
much risk, for when it is found that you have disappeared from all your
former haunts, the search for you is not likely to last long. At any
rate, you might as well mention to those who have known you as a
courier, that you intend to establish yourself either in Paris or
Berlin. For as you speak both French and German as well as English, that
would in any case be the course that a prudent man would adopt, after
being mixed up in an affair that ended badly for the brigands. Well, in
the first place, you had better go at once to the legation and accept
their terms. Come here at eleven o'clock to-morrow, and I will give you
further instructions."
Thus it happened that when Frank came home next time from school, he was
surprised at having the door opened to him by a grave-looking servant in
plain clothes, who said in English, with a very slight foreign accent:
"The Signora Percival is in the drawing-room, sir. I will see to your
baggage and settle with the cabman."
"Whom have you got hold of now, mother?" he said, after the first
greeting--"an Italian? Isn't he a fearfully respectable-looking man?
Looks like a clergyman got up as a valet."
"He was your dear father's courier, Frank. I sent for him to come over
here, as I wished to learn all about your father's last days. The poor
fellow was in fear of his life, owing to the evidence that he had given
against the brigands. William had given me notice that he was going to
leave only the day before; and as Beppo had served in several noble
families, who had given him splendid testimonials, and was afraid to
return to Italy, I was very glad to take him in William's place,
especially as he only asked the same wages I paid before. I congratulate
myself on the change, for he is quite the beau-ideal of a servant--very
quiet in the house, ready to do anything, gets on well with the other
servants, and is able to talk in their own language to any of his
countrymen who come here, either as visitors or as exiles in need of
assistance. He has, indeed, saved me more than once from impostors; he
has listened to their stories, and having been a courier, and knowing
every town in Italy, on questioning them he found out that their whole
story was a lie."
"That is all right, mother; if you like him, that is everything. I own
that I liked William; I am sorry that he has gone. I shall be some time
getting accustomed to this chap, for he certainly is fearfully grave and
respectable."
CHAPTER IV.
A SUDDEN SUMMONS.
One Saturday early in March, 1860, Frank, now sixteen years of age, on
starting for the football ground, was told that the house-master wished
to see him, and he at once went into his study.
"Percival, I have received a note from your mother, asking me to let you
out till Monday morning. She says that she particularly wants to see
you, and will be glad if you will start at once. Of course I will do so;
you had better catch the next train, if you can."
"What in the world can the mater want to see me in such a hurry for?"
Frank said to himself in a rather discontented tone as he left the
master's study. "It is a frightful nuisance missing the match this
afternoon! I don't know what Hawtrey will say when I tell him that I
cannot play. Ah! here he is."
"What is up, Percival?"
"I am awfully sorry to say that I have just received a message from my
mater calling me up to town at once. I have no idea what it is about;
but it must be something particular, for I told her when I wrote to her
last that this was going to be the toughest match of the season; still,
of course I must go."
"I see that, Percival. It is a terrible nuisance; you are certainly the
third best in the house, and now I shall have to put Fincham in, I
suppose, and I am afraid that will mean the loss of the match."
"He is as strong as I am, Hawtrey."
"Yes; he is strong enough and heavy enough, but he is desperately slow.
However, I must make the best of him."
Frank hurried upstairs, and in ten minutes came down again, dressed. He
ran the greater part of the way to the station, and just caught the up
train. The disappointment over the football match was forgotten now.
Thinking it over, he had come to the conclusion that either his mother
or grandmother must have been taken seriously ill. It could hardly be
his mother, for it was she who had written; still, she might have
managed to do that, even if she had met with some sort of accident, if
it was not too serious. If not she, it must be the signora, as he
generally called her, and as he was very fond of her, he felt that her
loss would be a heavy one indeed. His anxiety increased as he neared
London; and as soon as the train stopped at Euston he jumped out, seized
the first hansom, and told the cabman to drive fast to Cadogan Place. He
leaped out, handed his fare to the cabman, ran up the steps, and knocked
at the door.
"Is every one well, Beppo?" he asked breathlessly, as the servant opened
it.
"Yes, sir," the footman replied, in his usual calm and even voice.
"Thank God for that!" he exclaimed. "Where is my mother?"
"In the dining-room, sir, with the signora."
Frank ran upstairs. "Mother, you have given me quite a fright," he said.
"From your message I thought that some one must have been suddenly taken
ill, or you would never have sent for me when you knew that we played
in the final ties for the house championship to-day. I have been
worrying horribly all the way up to town."
"I forgot all about your match, Frank," his mother said. "I have had a
letter that put it out of my head entirely."
"A letter, mother?"
"Yes, Frank; from your hero, Garibaldi."
"What is it about, mother?" Frank exclaimed excitedly, for he had heard
so much of the Italian patriot from his father, and of their doings
together in South America and the siege of Rome, that his admiration for
him was unbounded.
"Sit down, Frank, and I will tell you all about it. The letter was
addressed to your dear father. Garibaldi, being in Caprera, probably has
but little news of what is passing at Naples. He had heard of my
father's disappearance, but was apparently in ignorance of what has
happened since."
She took out the letter and read:
"'MY DEAR COMRADE AND FRIEND,--
"'When I last wrote to you it was to condole with you on the
disappearance of that true patriot and my good friend, Professor
Forli. I hope that long ere this he has been restored to you; but
if, as I fear, he has fallen into the clutches of the rascally
government of Naples, I am afraid that you will never hear of him
again. Several times, when you have written to me, you have told me
that you were prepared to join me when I again raised the flag of
Italian independence, though you held aloof when France joined us
against Austria. You did rightly, for we were betrayed by the
French as we were at Rome, and my birthplace, Nice, has been handed
over to them. You also said that you would help us with money;
and, as you know, money is one of our chief requisites. The time
has come. I am convinced that the population of the Neapolitan
territories are now reduced to such a state of despair by the
tyranny of their government that they will be ready to hail us as
deliverers.
"'My plan is this: I am sure a thousand or so of the men who fought
with me in the Alps will flock to my standard, and with these I
intend to effect a landing in Sicily. If I capture Palermo and
Messina I think I can rely upon being joined by no small number of
men there, and by volunteers from all parts of Italy; five thousand
men in all will be sufficient, I think--at any rate, that number
collected, I shall cross to the mainland and march upon Naples. You
may think that the adventure is a desperate one, but that is by no
means my opinion; you know how easily we defeated the Neapolitan
troops in 1848. I believe that we shall do so still more easily
now, for certainly very many of them must share in the general
hatred of the tyrant. Come, dear friend, and join us; the
meeting-place is called the Villa Spinola, which is a few miles
from Genoa.
"'I do not anticipate any great interference from Cavour; he will
run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, as your proverb has it.
He dare not stop us; for I am convinced that such is the state of
public opinion in Italy, that it might cost his master his crown
were he to do so. On the other hand, he would be obliged to assume
an attitude of hostility, or he would incur the anger of Austria,
of the Papacy, and possibly of France; therefore I think that he
will remain neutral, although professing to do all in his power to
prevent our moving. I am promised some assistance in money, but I
am sure that this will fall short of the needs. We must buy arms
not only for ourselves, but to arm those who join us; we must
charter or buy steamers to carry us to Sicily. Once there, I regard
the rest as certain. Come to me with empty hands, and you will
receive the heartiest welcome as my dear friend and comrade; but if
you can aid us also with money, not only I, but all Italy, will be
grateful to you. I know that you need no inducement, for your heart
is wholly with us, and all the more so from this disappearance of
madame's father, doubtless the work of the tyrants. Need I say that
our first step in every town and fortress we capture will be to
release all political prisoners confined there?--and it may be that
among these we will find Professor Forli. Turr will be with me,
Baron Stocco of Calabria, Bixio, and Tuckory; and Madame Carroli
has written to tell me that she places her three sons at my
disposal in the place of their brave brother, and will, moreover,
supply me with money to the utmost of her power. Come, then, dear
friend, aid me with your arm and counsel, and let us again fight
side by side in the cause of liberty.'"
Frank leapt to his feet. "You will let me go in my father's place,
mother, will you not? Many of those who will follow Garibaldi will be no
older than myself, and probably not half so strong; none can hate the
tyranny of Naples more than I do. It is the cause for which my father
and grandfather fought; and we now have greater wrongs than they had to
avenge."
"That is what I thought you would say, Frank," his mother said sadly.
"'Tis hard indeed to part with a son after having lost father and
husband; but my father was an Italian patriot, my husband fought for
Italy; in giving you up I give up my all; yet I will not say you nay. So
fierce is the indignation in England at the horrors of the tyrants'
prisons that I doubt not many English will, when they hear of
Garibaldi's landing in Sicily, go out to join him; and if they are ready
in the cause only of humanity to risk their lives, surely we cannot
grudge you in the cause not only of humanity, but of the land of our
birth."
"I feel sure that father would have taken me, had he been here," Frank
said earnestly.
"I believe he would, Frank. I know that he shared to the full my
father's hatred of the despots who grind Italy under their heel; and
besides the feeling that animated him, one cannot but cherish the hope
that my father may still be found alive in one of those ghastly prisons.
Of course my mother and I have talked the matter over. We both lament
that your studies should be interrupted; but it can be for a few months
only, and probably you will be able to return to Harrow when the school
meets again after the long holiday--so that, in fact, you will only lose
three months or so."
"That makes no odds one way or another, mother. In any case, I am not
likely to be a shining light in the way of learning."
"No--I suppose not, Frank; and with a fine estate awaiting you, there is
no occasion that you should be, though of course you will go through
Oxford or Cambridge. However, we need not think of that now."
"And will you be sending him any money, mother?"
"Certainly. Your father put by a certain sum every year in order that he
might assist Garibaldi when the latter again raised the flag of freedom
in Italy--a cause which was sacred in his eyes. At the time he left
England, this fund amounted to £10,000; and as he never knew when the
summons from Garibaldi might arrive, he transferred it to my name, so
that he need not come back to England, should a rising occur before his
return. So you will not go empty-handed."
"That will be a splendid gift, mother. I suppose I shall not go back to
school before I start?"
"No, Frank. Since you are to go on this expedition, the sooner you start
the better. I shall write to your headmaster, and tell him that I am
most reluctantly obliged to take you away from school for a few months;
but that it is a matter of the greatest importance, and that I hope he
will retain your name on the books and permit you to return when you
come back to England."
"If he won't, mother, it will not matter very much. Of course I should
like to go back again; but if they won't let me, I shall only have to go
to a coach for a year or two."
"That is of little consequence," his mother agreed; "and perhaps, after
going through such an exciting time, you will not yourself care about
returning to school again. You must not look upon this matter as a mere
adventure, Frank; it is a very, very perilous enterprise, in which your
life will be risked daily. Were we differently situated, I should not
have dreamt of allowing you to go out; but we have identified ourselves
with the cause of freedom in Italy. Your grandfather lost
everything--his home, his country, and maybe his life; and your father,
living as he did in Rome, and married to the daughter of an Italian,
felt as burning a hatred for the oppression he saw everywhere round him
as did the Italians themselves; perhaps more so, for being accustomed to
the freedom Englishmen enjoy, these things appeared to him a good deal
more monstrous than they did to those who had been used to them all
their lives. He risked death a score of times in the defence of Rome;
and he finally lost his life while endeavouring to discover whether my
father was a prisoner in one of the tyrants' dungeons. Thus, although in
all other respects an English boy--or Italian only through your
grandfather--you have been constantly hearing of Italy and its wrongs,
and on that point feel as keenly and strongly as the son of an Italian
patriot would do. I consider that it is a holy war in which you are
about to take part--a war that, if successful, will open the doors of
dungeons in which thousands, among whom may be my father, are lingering
out their lives for no other cause than that they dared to think, and
will free a noble people who have for centuries been under the yoke of
foreigners. Therefore, as, if this country were in danger, I should not
baulk your desire to enter the army, so now I say to you, join
Garibaldi; and even should you be taken from me, I shall at least have
the consolation of feeling that it was in a noble cause you fell, and
that I sent you, knowing that my happiness as well as your life hung
upon the issue. I want you to view the matter then, my boy, not in the
light of an exciting adventure, but in the spirit in which the Crusaders
went out to free the Holy Sepulchre, in which the Huguenots of France
fought and died for their religion."
"I will try to do so, mother," Frank said gravely; "at any rate, if the
cause was good enough for my father and grandfather to risk their lives
for, it is good enough for me. But you know, mother," he went on, in a
changed voice, "you can't put an old head on to young shoulders; and
though I shall try to regard it as you say, I am afraid that I shan't be
able to help enjoying it as a splendid adventure."
His mother smiled faintly. "I suppose that is boy nature. At any rate,
I am sure that you will do your duty, and there is certainly no occasion
for your doing it with a sad face; and bear in mind always, Frank, that
you are going out not so much to fight, as to search every prison and
fortress that may be captured, to question every prisoner whether he has
heard or known any one answering the description of your grandfather,
or--or----" and her lip quivered, and her voice broke.
"Or, mother?"--and he stood surprised as Mrs. Percival burst suddenly
into tears, and the signora, rising from her seat, went hastily to her,
and put her arm round her neck. It was a minute or two before Mrs.
Percival took her hands from her face, and went on,--
"I was going to say, Frank, or of your father."
Frank started, as if he had been suddenly struck. "My father," he
repeated, in a low tone. "Do you think, mother--do you think it
possible? I thought there was no doubt as to how he was killed."
"I have never let myself doubt," Mrs. Percival went on. "Whenever the
thought has come into my mind during the past two years I have
resolutely put it aside. It would have been an agony more than I could
bear to think it possible that he could be alive and lingering in a
dungeon beyond human aid. Never have I spoken on the subject, except to
my mother, when she first suggested the possibility; but now that there
is a chance of the prison doors being opened, I may let myself not
hope--it can hardly be that--but pray that in God's mercy I may yet see
him again." And as she again broke down altogether, Frank, with a sudden
cry, threw himself on his knees beside her, and buried his face in his
arms on her lap, his whole figure shaken by deep sobs.
Mrs. Percival was the first to recover her composure, and gently
stroked his hair, saying: "You must not permit yourself to hope, my boy;
you must shut that out from your mind as I have done, thinking of it
only as a vague, a very vague and distant possibility."
"But how, mother, could it be?" he asked presently, raising his head.
"Did we not hear all about his being killed, how Beppo saw him shot, and
how one of the band testified that he was dead and buried?"
"So it seemed to me, Frank, when my mother first pointed out to me that
all this might be false, and that just as the government of Naples
declared they were absolutely ignorant as to your grandfather's
disappearance when it appeared to us a certainty that it was due to
their own act, so they would not hesitate a moment to get rid of your
father, whose letters as to the state of their prisons were exciting an
intense feeling against them in every free country. She said it would be
easy for them to bribe or threaten his servant into telling any tale
they thought fit; he or some other agent might have informed the
banditti that a rich Englishman would be passing along the road at a
certain time, and that the government would be ready to pay for his
capture and delivery to them. The prisoner taken may have been promised
a large sum to repeat the story of the Englishman having died and been
buried. It was all possible, and though I was determined not to think of
him as a prisoner, my mother, who knew more of these things than I did,
and how matters like this were managed in Italy, thought that it was so.
Still to my mind there were, and still are, reasons against hope, for
surely the Neapolitan government would have preferred that the brigands
should kill him, rather than that they themselves should have the
trouble of keeping him in prison."
"Possibly they would have preferred that," Signora Forli said, speaking
for the first time. "They knew that he was an Englishman, and doubtless
learned that he carried loaded pistols, and may have reckoned
confidently upon his resisting and being killed, and may have been
disappointed because the brigands, hoping for a large ransom, carried
him off wounded."
"But even then," Mrs. Percival said, "they could have sent up their
agents to the brigands and paid them to finish their work."
"Yes, possibly that is what they did do; but though I have never spoken
to you on the subject since you told me not to, I have thought it over
many and many times, and it seems to me that they would scarcely do so,
for they might thus put themselves into the power of these bandits. Any
one of the band might make his way to Naples, go to the British
legation, and under the promise of a large sum of money and protection
denounce the whole plot. It seems to me more likely that they would send
an agent to the chief brigand, and pay him a sum of money to deliver the
captive up to men who would meet him at a certain place. It is probable
that the chief would, on some excuse or other, get rid of all his band
but two or three, hand over the prisoner, and share the money only with
those with him, and when the others returned, tell them that the
prisoner had died and that they had buried him. Then the carabinieri
would use every effort to kill those who were in the secret, and being
in earnest for once, they probably did kill the chief and those with
him.
"Probably the man who gave his evidence was not one of the party at all,
but some prisoner charged with a minor offence, who was promised his
liberty as the price of telling the story that he was taught. If
Leonard had been killed and buried, as they stated, his grave must
surely have been found--the earth must still have been fresh; and,
indeed, nothing is more unlikely than that the brigands should have
taken any extraordinary trouble to hide the body, as they could not have
anticipated that any vigorous search would be made for it. For these
reasons I have all along believed that Leonard did not come to his end
as was supposed. He may have been killed afterwards by those into whose
hands he was delivered; but even this does not seem likely, for one of
them might betray the secret for a large reward. He may have died in a
dungeon, as so many thousands have done; but I believe firmly that he
did not, as reported, die in the brigands' hut. I have never since
spoken on the subject to your mother, Frank, for I agreed with what she
said, that it would be better to think of him as dead than in a dungeon,
from which, as was shown in the case of your grandfather, there was no
chance of releasing him. Now, however, if Garibaldi is successful, as
every prison will be searched, and every political prisoner freed, there
is a prospect that, if he is still alive, he may be restored to us."
Frank, with the natural hope of youth, at once adopted the signora's
view; but his mother, although she admitted that it might possibly be
true, still insisted that she would not permit herself to hope.
"It may be that God in His mercy will send him back to me; but, though I
shall pray night and day that He will do so, it will be almost without
hope that my prayer will be granted,--were I to hope, it would be like
losing him again if he were not found. Now let us talk of other matters.
The sooner you start the better, Frank; you will not have many
preparations to make. The Garibaldian outfit is a simple one--a red
shirt, trousers of any colour, but generally blue, a pair of gaiters and
one of thick, serviceable boots, a wide-awake, or, in fact, any sort of
cap with perhaps a red feather, a well-made blanket wound up and
strapped over one shoulder like a scarf, a red sash for the waist, a
cloak or great-coat strapped up and worn like a knapsack, and a spare
shirt and a pair of trousers are all the outfit that you require. You
had better take a good rifle with you, and of course a pair of pistols.
All the clothes you can buy out there, and also a sword, for no doubt
Garibaldi will put you on his staff."
"In that case I shall not want the rifle, mother."
"No; and if you do you can buy one there. In a town like Genoa there are
sure to be shops where English rifles can be bought, and you might have
difficulty in passing one through the customs--luggage is rigorously
examined on the frontier and at the ports. A brace of pistols, however,
would be natural enough, as any English traveller might take them for
protection against brigands if he intended to go at all out of beaten
tracks. As to the money, I shall go to the bank on Monday, and request
them to give me bills on some firm in Genoa or Turin. Garibaldi will
find no difficulty in getting them cashed. I should say that your best
course will be to go through Paris and as far as the railway is made,
then on by diligence over Mont Cenis to Turin, and after that by railway
to Genoa. In that way you will get there in three or four days, whereas
it would take you a fortnight by sea."
"Then it seems to me, mother, that there is nothing at all for me to get
before I start, except a brace of pistols; but of course I must have my
clothes up from Harrow."
"I will write for them at once, Frank. It would be better that you
should not go down--you would find it difficult to answer questions put
to you as to why you are leaving; and of course this enterprise of
Garibaldi must be kept a profound secret. One cannot be too prudent in a
case like this, for if a whisper got abroad the Italian government would
be compelled to stop him."
"You will not see Beppo here when you come back," Mrs. Percival said to
Frank on Monday evening. "I gave him notice this afternoon."
"What for, mother? Anyhow, I am not sorry, for I have never liked him."
"I know that you have not, Frank, and I begin to think that you were
right. My maid said to me this morning that, though she did not like to
speak against a fellow-servant, she thought it right to tell me that
when I am out of the house and before I get up of a morning he is often
in the drawing-room and dining-room, in neither of which he has any
business; and that when she went up yesterday evening--you know that she
is a very quiet walker--she came upon him standing outside the
drawing-room door when we were chatting together, and she thought,
though of this she was not quite sure, that he had his ear at the
keyhole. He knocked and came in the instant he saw her, as if he had
only that moment arrived there; but she had caught sight of him before
he saw her, and was certain that he was listening.
"Of course, she might have been mistaken; but thinking it over, it seems
to me that she was probably right, for once or twice since he has been
here, it has struck me that the papers in my cabinet were not in
precisely the same order as I had left them. You know that I am very
methodical about such matters; still, I might each time, when I took
them out, have omitted to return them in exactly the same order as
before, though I do not think it likely that I could have done so.
However, I thought nothing of it at the time; but now that I hear that
he has been spying about the rooms and listening at the door, I cannot
but connect the two things together, and it may be that the man has been
acting as an agent for the Neapolitan government. You know, when we were
talking the matter over on Saturday, my mother suggested that it was
possible that the courier had been in league with the brigands. Possibly
he may also be an agent of the government; and there was so great a stir
made at that time that I cannot regard it as impossible, knowing how she
and I are heart and soul with the Italian patriots, that he was sent
over to watch us."
"I think it not only possible but probable," Signora Forli put in. "I
know that in Italy the police have spies in every household where they
suspect the owner of holding liberal opinions; and knowing that our
house was frequented by so many exiles, they may have very well placed
this man here. I regret now that at the time this man came over at your
mother's request, we listened to his plausible tale and took him into
our service, but I had not at that time any strong suspicions that the
attack on your father was a preconcerted one, and I should hardly have
mentioned the idea to your mother had it occurred to me. However, it is
of no use thinking over that now; the great point is to consider how it
will affect your plan."
"In what way, signora?" Frank asked in surprise; and Mrs. Percival
added, "I don't see what you mean, mother."
"I mean this, dear: if this man is a spy, you may be quite sure that he
has had false keys made, by which he can open your cabinet, your
drawers, and your writing-desk. It is quite probable that he knows
Garibaldi's handwriting, for, knowing that the general was a great
friend of your father, he would almost certainly be furnished with a
specimen of it; and, if that was the case, we may take it for granted
that wherever you put any letter from Garibaldi, he would get at it and
read it. That in itself can do comparatively little harm, for rumours of
the general's proposed expedition are already current. But he will know
that, immediately on receipt of that letter, you sent for Frank.
Doubtless there are other Neapolitan spies over here, and every movement
you have made since will, in that case, have been watched, and you will
have been seen to go to the bank to-day. It is not likely that they
would know how much we have drawn out, for your conversation was with
the manager in his private room; but knowing your devotion to
Garibaldi's cause, they might well suppose that the amount would be a
considerable one. We have made no secret of the fact that Frank will
start the day after to-morrow to travel in Italy for a time; and he will
guess that Frank is the bearer of this money to Garibaldi--possibly, as
it seems that he listened at the doors, he may even have heard you tell
Frank how much you were going to send. Yesterday evening we were talking
over how the bills had best be concealed, and he may have heard that
also; if he did, you may be pretty sure that they will never reach
Garibaldi, unless our plans for their concealment are changed."
"You frighten me, mother."
"I don't know that there is anything to be frightened about," the
signora said. "I do not for a moment suppose that he contemplates any
actual attack upon Frank; though he will, I am convinced, try to get the
money--partly, no doubt, for its own sake, partly because its loss would
be a serious blow to Garibaldi. After the disappearance of his
grandfather, and the commotion there was over the death or disappearance
of his father, an attack upon Frank would appear to be a sequel of these
affairs, and would cause such general indignation that the ministry
would take the matter up in earnest, and the result would be far more
disastrous for the government of Naples than could be caused by any
amount of money reaching Garibaldi, whom they must regard as an
adventurer who could give them some trouble, but who could not hope for
success. Therefore, I do not think that there is any danger whatever of
personal injury to Frank; but I do think there is grave fear that the
money will be stolen on the way. If our suspicions are well founded as
to Beppo, no doubt two or three of these agents will travel with him. If
he stops to sleep at an hotel, his room would be entered and his coat
carried off; he may be chloroformed when in a train and searched from
head to foot; his baggage may be stolen on the way, but that would only
be the case if they do not find the bills on his person or where we
agreed last night to hide them."
"I dare not let him go," Mrs. Percival said, in a trembling voice.
"Why, mother," Frank said almost indignantly, "you don't suppose, now
that I am warned, I shall be fool enough to let these fellows get the
best of me? I will carry a loaded pistol in each pocket; I will not
sleep in an hotel from the time I start till I have handed the bills to
Garibaldi, and will take care always to get into a carriage with several
other passengers. If I hadn't had fair warning, I dare say I should have
been robbed; but I have no fear whatever on the subject now that we have
a suspicion of what may occur. But if you think it would be safer, I do
not see why you could not send the bills by post to an hotel at Genoa."
Signora Forli shook her head. "That would not do," she said. "You do not
know what these Neapolitan spies are capable of. If they find that you
have not the money with you, they would follow you to your hotel at
Genoa, bribe the concierge there to hand over any letter that came
addressed to you, or steal it from the rack where it would be placed,
while his attention was turned elsewhere. However, I have an old friend
at Genoa, the Countess of Mongolfiere; we exchange letters two or three
times a year. She is, of course, a patriot. I will, if your mother
agrees with me, enclose the bills in an envelope addressed to you, put
that in another with a letter saying that you will call at her house
when you arrive at Genoa, and request her to hand the letter to you. I
will say that it vitally concerns the cause, and beg her to place it
under lock and key in some safe receptacle until you arrive."
"That is an excellent idea, mother," Mrs. Percival said, "and would seem
to meet the difficulty."
Frank rose from his seat quietly, stepped noiselessly to the door, and
suddenly threw it open. To his surprise his mother's maid was sitting in
a chair against it, knitting.
"It is all right, Hannah," he said, as she started to her feet. "I did
not know you were there. I thought that fellow might be listening
again," and he closed the door.
"I asked her to sit there this evening, Frank," Mrs. Percival said. "I
knew that we should be talking this matter over, and thought it better
to take the precaution to ensure our not being overheard."
"Quite right, mother; I am glad you did so. Then you think that that
plan will answer?"
"Yes, I think so; but you must be sure and take care of yourself, just
as if you had the money about you."
"That I will, mother; you can rely upon that."
"And above all," Signora Forli said, "you must beware, when you go to
the Countess for the money, that you take every possible precaution.
Call in the daytime, go in a carriage and drive straight from her place
to the Villa Spinola; better still, go first to Garibaldi, tell him
where the money is, and ask him to send three of his officers to your
hotel on the following morning. Then take a carriage, drive to the
Countess's, and take it to the general with four of you in the carriage.
They would not dare to attack you in broad daylight."
"That is an excellent plan," Mrs. Percival said, in a tone of great
relief. "Certainly, if they do manage to search him on the way, and find
that he has not got the bills upon him, they will watch him closely at
Genoa, where, no doubt, they will get the assistance of some of
Francisco's agents. There are sure to be plenty of them in Genoa at
present; but however many of them there may be, they would not venture
to attack in daylight four men driving along what is no doubt a
frequented road, more especially as they would know that three of them
were Garibaldi's men, which is as much as to say desperate fellows, and
who would, no doubt, like yourself, be armed with pistols."
"We had better take one more precaution," Signora Forli said. "It is
believed that you are going to start on Thursday morning. Your packing
can be done in five minutes; and I think that it would be a good plan
for you to have everything ready to-night, and send Mary out for a
hansom to-morrow morning, so that you could, when it comes up to the
door, go straight down, get into it, and drive to the station. I don't
say that they might not be prepared for any sudden change of our plans;
but at least it would give you a chance of getting a start of them that
they can never recover--at any rate, not until you get to Paris."
"How could they catch me there?" Frank said.
"Francisco's agents here might telegraph to his agents in Paris, and
they might be on the look-out for you when you arrived, and take the
matter up. You were going _viâ_ Calais. Let me look at the Bradshaw."
"Yes," she said, after examining its pages; "the train for the tidal
boat leaves at the same time as the Dover train. If, when you get into
the cab, you say out loud, 'Victoria,' so that Beppo may hear it, you
can then, when once on your way, tell the cabman to take you to Charing
Cross. In that way, if there is any one on the look-out when the Calais
train comes in, they will be thrown altogether off the scent."
"It seems ridiculous, all these precautions," Frank said, with a laugh.
"My dear, no precautions are ridiculous when you have Francisco's agents
to deal with. Now, I will write my letter to the Countess at once, so
that she may get it before your arrival there. You will, of course, go
out and post it yourself."
CHAPTER V
ON THE WAY.
After posting the letter, Frank made several small purchases, and was
more than an hour away. On his return he saw a cab standing at the door.
As he approached, Beppo came out with a portmanteau, handed it up to the
driver, jumped in, and was driven off.
"So Beppo has gone, mother," he said, as he joined her in the
drawing-room.
"Yes. He came in directly you had left. He said that his feelings had
been outraged by a servant being placed at the door. He could not say
why she was there, but thought it seemed as if he was doubted. He could
not but entertain a suspicion that she was placed there to prevent any
one listening at the keyhole; after such an insult as that he could not
remain any longer in the house. I said that he was at liberty to leave
instantly, as his wages had been paid only three days ago. He made no
reply, but bowed and left. Mary came up and told me ten minutes later
that he had brought his portmanteau down, left it in the hall, and gone
out, she supposed, to fetch a cab. I heard the vehicle drive up just
now, and the front door closed half a minute ago."
Signora Forli came into the room as she was speaking. "Mary tells me
that Beppo has gone. It is a comfort that he is out of the house. When
you once begin to suspect a man, the sooner he is away the better. At
the same time, Frank, there can be no doubt that his going will not
increase your chances of reaching Genoa without being searched. I should
say that he had made up his mind to leave before you did, and he was
glad that the fact of Mary being at the door gave him a pretext for his
sudden departure. In the first place, he could conduct the affair better
than any one else could do, as he knows your face and figure so well.
Then, too, he would naturally wish to get the credit of the matter
himself, after being so long engaged in it. Of course, you may as well
carry out the plan we arranged, to start in the morning; but you may
feel absolutely certain that, whatever you may do, you will not throw
him off your track. He must know now that he is suspected of being a
Neapolitan agent, and that you will very likely change your route and
your time of starting.
"I regard it as certain that the house will be watched night and day,
beginning from to-morrow morning, an hour or so before the trains leave.
There will be a vehicle with a fast horse close at hand, possibly two,
so that one will follow your cab, and the other drive at once to some
place where Beppo is waiting. As likely as not he will go viâ Calais. If
you go that way, so much the better; if not, he will only have to post
himself at the station at Paris. It is likely enough that during the
last day or two he has had one or two men hanging about here to watch
you going in and out, and so to get to know you well, and will have one
at each of the railway stations. He may also have written to the agents
in Paris to have a look-out kept for you there."
"But how could they know me?"
"He would describe you closely enough for that; possibly he may have
sent them over a photograph."
Frank got up and went to a side table, on which a framed photograph that
had been taken when he was at home at Christmas, usually stood. "You are
right," he said; "it has gone." Then he opened an album. "The one here
has gone, too, mother. Are there any more of them about?"
"There is one in my bedroom; you know where it hangs. It was there this
morning."
"That has gone, too, mother," he said, when he returned to the room.
"So you see, Muriel, I was right. The one from the album may have been
taken yesterday, and a dozen copies made of it; so that, even if you
give them the slip here, Frank, you will be recognised as soon as you
reach Paris."
"Well, mother, it is of no use bothering any more about it. I have only
to travel in carriages with other people, and they cannot molest me; at
worst they can but search me, and they will find nothing. They cannot
even feel sure that I have anything on me; for now that Beppo knows he
is suspected of listening at doors, he will consider it possible that we
may have changed our plans about where we shall hide the money. It is
not as if they wanted to put me out of the way, you know; you and the
signora agreed that that is certainly the last thing they would do,
because there would be a tremendous row about it, and they would gain no
advantage by it; so I should not worry any further, mother. I do not
think there is the slightest occasion for uneasiness. I will just go by
Calais, as I had intended, and by the train I had fixed on; that in
itself will shake Beppo's belief that I have the money with me, for he
would think that if I had it I should naturally try some other way."
"At any rate," Mrs. Percival said, "you shall not go by the line that we
had intended. You would be obliged to travel by diligence from Dole to
Geneva, thence to Chambery, and again by the same method over the Alps
to Susa. You shall go straight from Paris to Marseilles; boats go from
there every two or three days to Genoa."
"Very well, mother; I don't care which it is. Certainly there are far
fewer changes by that line; and to make your mind easy, I will promise
you that at Marseilles, if I have to stop there a night, I will keep my
bedroom door locked, and shove something heavy against it; in that way I
can't be caught asleep."
"Well, I shall certainly feel more comfortable, my dear boy, than I
should if you were going over the Alps. Of course, the diligence stops
sometimes and the people get out, and there would be many opportunities
for your being suddenly seized and gagged and carried off."
"They would have to be very sudden about it," Frank laughed. "I do
think, mother, that you have been building mountains out of molehills.
Beppo may not be a spy, after all; he may have heard you talking of this
ten thousand pounds, and the temptation of trying to get it may be too
much for him. He will know now that I shall be on my guard, and that,
even if I have the money on my person, his chance of getting it is small
indeed. I believe that you and the signora have talked the matter over
till you have frightened yourselves, and built up a wonderful story,
based only on the fact that Mary thought that she caught Beppo listening
at the door."
"How about the photographs?" Mrs. Percival asked.
"Possibly he has a hidden affection for me," Frank laughed, "and has
taken these as mementos of his stay here. Well, don't say anything more
about it, mother; I am not in the least nervous, and with a brace of
loaded pistols in my pocket and the fair warning that I have had, I do
not think I need be afraid of two or three of these miserable Neapolitan
spies."
Accordingly, Frank started by the morning mail, as they had arranged.
The carriage was full to Dover; and at Calais he waited on the platform
until he saw an English gentleman with two ladies enter a compartment,
and in this he took a vacant corner seat. On his arrival at Paris he
drove across at once to the terminus of the railway to Marseilles,
breakfasted there, and sat in the waiting-room reading till the door on
to the platform opened, and an official shouted, "Passengers for Melun,
Sens, Dijon, Macon, Lyons, and Marseilles." There was a general movement
among those in the waiting-room. Frank found that there was no fear of
his being in a compartment by himself, for only one carriage door was
opened at a time, and not until the compartment was full was the next
unlocked. He waited until he saw his opportunity, and was the first to
enter and secure a corner seat. In a short time it filled up.
He had slept most of the way between Calais and Paris, feeling
absolutely certain that he would not be interfered with in a carriage
with three English fellow-passengers. It was twelve o'clock now, and he
would not arrive at Marseilles until seven the next morning, and he
wondered where all his fellow-passengers, who were packed as closely as
possible, were going, for although he did not wish to be alone, it was
not a pleasant prospect to be for eighteen hours wedged in so tightly
that he could scarcely move. Then he wondered whether any of the men who
might be following were also in the train. He had quite come to the
conclusion that his mother and grandmother had frightened themselves
most unnecessarily; but he admitted that this was natural enough, after
the losses they had had. At Dijon several passengers got out, but others
took their places; and so the journey continued throughout the day. The
carriage was generally full, though once or twice there were for a time
but five besides himself. He read most of the way, for although he spoke
Italian as fluently as English, he could not converse in French. When
tired of reading he had several times dozed off to sleep, though he had
determined that he would keep awake all night.
At ten o'clock in the evening the train arrived at Lyons. Here there was
a stop of twenty minutes, and he got out and ate a hearty meal, and
drank two or three cups of strong coffee. He was not surprised to find,
on returning to his carriage, that all the passengers with two
exceptions had left it. These had got in at Macon, and were evidently
men of good circumstances and intimate with each other; he had no
suspicions whatever of them, for it was certain that men who had any
intention of attacking him would appear as strangers to each other. At
Vienne both left the carriage. Frank was not sorry to see them do so.
"If there are really fellows watching me," he said to himself, "the
sooner they show themselves and get it over the better; it is a nuisance
to keep on expecting something to take place when as likely as not
nothing will happen at all." He examined his pistols. They were loaded
but not capped, and he now put caps on the nipples, and replaced them in
his pocket.
Just before they had left Vienne a man had come to the window as if
intending to enter, but after glancing in for a moment had gone to
another carriage.
[Illustration: "HIS ASSAILANT FELL BACK AND DISAPPEARED"]
"That is rather queer," Frank thought. "As I am alone here, there was
plenty of room for him. Perhaps he had made a mistake in the carriage.
At any rate, they won't catch me napping."
The strong coffee that he had taken at Lyons had sharpened his
faculties, and he never felt more awake than he did after leaving
Vienne. He sat with his eyes apparently closed, as if asleep, with a
warm rug wrapped round his legs. An hour later he saw a face appear at
the opposite window. At first it was but for an instant; a few seconds
later it appeared again and watched him steadily; then the man moved
along to the door and another joined him. Frank without moving cocked
the pistol in his right-hand pocket, and took a firm hold of the butt
with his finger on the trigger. The door opened noiselessly, and the
second man thrust in an arm holding a pistol; so it remained for half a
minute. Frank was convinced that there was no intention of shooting if
it could be avoided, and remained perfectly still; then the arm was
withdrawn, and another man, holding a knife in one hand and a roll of
something in the other, entered. In a moment Frank's right arm flew up
and his pistol cracked out: his assailant fell back and disappeared
through the open door. Frank sprang to his feet as he fired, and stood
with his pistol levelled towards the window, where the head of the
second man had disappeared as his comrade fell backwards.
"He knows I have the best of him now," Frank muttered to himself; "I
don't think that he will have another try."
Advancing cautiously, he pulled the door to, lowered the window, and
putting a hand out without exposing his head, turned the handle, and
then drew up the window again. His foot struck against something as he
backed to his seat in the corner. As he still kept his eyes fixed on the
window, he paid no attention to this for a minute or two; then he became
conscious of a faint odour.
"I expect that is chloroform or ether or something of that sort," he
said, as he lowered the window next to him; and then, still keeping an
eye on the door opposite, moved a step forward and picked up a large
handkerchief, steeped in a liquid of some sort or other. He was about to
open the window and throw it out, when an idea struck him.
"I had better keep it," he said: "there may be a beastly row over the
business, and this handkerchief may be useful in confirming my story."
He therefore put it up on the rack, lowered the window a few inches, and
did the same to the one opposite to it. Then wrapping the handkerchief
up in two or three newspapers he had bought by the way, to prevent the
liquid from evaporating, he sat down in his corner again. He felt
confident that the attack would not be renewed, now he was found to be
on the watch and armed. It was probable that the two men were alone, and
the one remaining would hardly venture single-handed to take any steps
whatever against one who was certain to continue to be vigilant. He had
no doubt that he had killed the man he fired at, and that, even if the
wound had not been instantly fatal, he would have been killed by his
fall from the train.
"It seems horrid," he muttered, "to have shot a man; but it was just as
much his life or mine as it would have been in battle. I hope no one
heard the shot fired. I expect that most of the passengers were asleep;
and if any one did hear it, he might suppose that a door had come open,
or had been opened by a guard, and had been slammed to. Of course, the
man's body will be found on the line in the morning, and I expect there
will be some fuss over it; but I hope we shall all be out of the train
and scattered through the town before any inquiries are set on foot. If
they traced it to me, I might be kept at Marseilles for weeks. Of
course, I should be all right; but the delay would be a frightful
nuisance. There is one thing,--the guard looked at my ticket just before
the train started from the last station, and would know that I was alone
in the carriage."
In a few minutes the speed of the train began to slacken. He knew that
the next station was Valence. He closed his eyes and listened as the
train stopped. As soon as it did so, he heard a voice from the next
carriage shouting for the guard. Then he heard an animated conversation,
of which he was able to gather the import.
"The sound of a gun," the guard said. "Nonsense; you must have been
dreaming!"
"I am sure I was not," a voice said indignantly. "It seemed to me as if
it was in the next carriage."
The guard came to Frank's window. "Ah, bah!" he said. "There is only one
passenger there, an Englishman. He was alone when we left Vienne, and he
is sound asleep now."
"Perhaps he is dead."
It was possible, and therefore the guard opened the door. "Are you
asleep, monsieur?"
Frank opened his eyes. "My ticket?" he asked drowsily. "Why, I showed it
you at Vienne."
"Pardon, monsieur," the guard said. "I am sorry that I disturbed you. It
was a mistake," and he closed the door, and said angrily to the man who
had called him: "It is as I said. You have been asleep; and I have woke
the English gentleman up for nothing."
A minute later the train moved on again.
"So far so good," Frank said. "I should think that I am all right now.
We shall be in at seven, and it will not be daylight till half-past six;
and as I fancy that we must have been about midway between Vienne and
Vallence when that fellow fell out, it is not likely that his body will
be found for some time. They are sure to have chosen some point a good
way from any station to get out of their own carriage and come to mine.
Even when they find him, they are not likely to make out that he has
been shot for some time afterwards. I hit him in the body, somewhere
near the heart, I fancy; I did not feel sure of hitting him if I fired
at his head, for the carriage was shaking about a good deal. It will
probably be thought at first that he has either fallen or jumped out of
his carriage. I suppose, when he is found, he will be carried to the
nearest station, and put in somewhere till a doctor and some
functionaries come, and an inquiry is held; and as he probably has been
badly cut about the head and face, his death will be put down to that
cause at first. Indeed, the fact that he was shot may not be found out
till they prepare him for burial. I suppose they will take off his
clothes then, as they will want to keep them for his identification, if
any inquiries should ever be made about him. At any rate, I may hope to
have got fairly away from Marseilles before the matter is taken up by
the police, and even then the evidence of the guard that I was alone
will prevent any suspicion falling especially on me."
He had no inclination for sleep, and although he felt certain that he
would not again be disturbed, he maintained a vigilant watch upon both
windows until, a few minutes after the appointed time, the train arrived
at Marseilles. Having only the small portmanteau he carried with him, he
was not detained more than two or three minutes there, took a _fiacre_
and drove to the Hôtel de Marseilles, which his Bradshaw told him was
close to the steamboat offices. After going upstairs and having a wash,
he went down again, carefully locking the door after him and putting the
key in his pocket. He then had some coffee and rolls, and while taking
these, obtained from the waiter a time-table of the departures of the
various steamers from the port, and found, to his great satisfaction,
that one of the Rubattino vessels would leave for Genoa at twelve
o'clock.
As soon as the steamboat offices were open he engaged a berth, walked
about Marseilles for an hour, returned at ten to the hotel, took a
hearty lunch, and then drove down to the port. On questioning the
steward he found that there were not many passengers going, and with a
tip of five francs secured a cabin to himself; having done this, he went
on deck again and watched the passengers arriving. They were principally
Italians; but among them he could not recognise the face of the agent
who had levelled a pistol at him. Both men had, indeed, worn black
handkerchiefs tied across their faces below their eyes and covering
their chins, and the broad-brimmed hats they wore kept their foreheads
and eyes in shadow; and although he watched his fellow-passengers with
the faint hope of discovering by some evil expression on his face his
last night's assailant, he had no real belief that he should, even under
the most favourable circumstances, recognise him again.
Two or three of the men wore beards, and seemed to belong to the sailor
class--probably men who had landed from a French ship, after perhaps a
distant voyage, and were now returning home. He saw no more of these, as
they at once went forward. There were only eight other passengers in the
saloon; seven of these were Italians, of whom three were evidently
friends. Two of the others had, Frank gathered from their talk, just
returned from Brazil; the sixth was an old man, and the seventh a
traveller for a firm of silk or velvet manufacturers in Genoa. The three
friends talked gaily on all sorts of subjects; but nothing that Frank
gathered, either from their conversation on deck or at dinner, gave any
clue as to their occupation. They had evidently met at Marseilles for
the first time after being separated for a considerable period--one had
been in England, one at Paris, and one at Bordeaux; their ages were from
twenty-three to twenty-six. Their names were, as he learned from their
talk, Maffio, Sarto, and Rubini. Before the steamer had left the port
half an hour, one of them, seeing that Frank was alone, said to him as
he passed, in broken English,--
"It is warmer and pleasanter here, monsieur, than it is in London."
"It is indeed," Frank replied, in Italian; "it was miserable weather
there, when I left the day before yesterday."
"_Per Bacco!_" the young man said, with a laugh, "I took you to be
English. Allow me to congratulate you on your admirable imitation
of----"
"I am English, signor--that is, I was born of English parents; but I
first saw light in Rome, and my grandfather was an Italian."
This broke the ice, and they chatted together pleasantly.
"We are going to Genoa. And you?"
"I also am going to Genoa, and perhaps"--for he had by this time quite
come to a conclusion on the subject--"on the same errand as yourselves."
The others looked at him in some little surprise, and then glanced at
one another. That this young Englishman should be going upon such an
expedition as that upon which they were bound, seemed to be out of the
question.
"You mean on pleasure, signor?" one of them said, after a pause.
"If excitement is pleasure, which no doubt it is--yes. I am going to
visit an old friend of my father's; he is living a little way out of the
town at the Villa Spinola."
The others gave a simultaneous exclamation of surprise.
"That is enough, signor," the one called Rubini said, holding out his
hand; "we are comrades. Though how a young English gentleman should come
to be of our party, I cannot say."
The others shook hands as warmly with Frank; and he then replied,--
"No doubt you are surprised. My father fought side by side with the man
I am now going to see, in the siege of Rome, so also did my grandfather;
and both have since paid by their lives for their love of Italy. My name
is Percival."
"The son of the Captain Percival who was murdered while searching in
Naples for Signor Forli?" one of them exclaimed.
"The same. So, gentlemen, you can perhaps understand why I am going to
the Villa Spinola, and why, young as I am, I am as eager to take part in
this business as you yourselves can be."
"Yes, indeed; your father's name is honoured among us as one of our
general's friends and companions in South America, and as one of his
comrades at Rome; still more, perhaps, for his fearless exposure of the
horrors of the tyrants' dungeons. However, it were best that we should
say no more on the subject at present. It is certain that the general's
presence at Genoa is causing uneasiness both at Rome and Naples. Rumours
that he intends to carry out some daring enterprise have appeared in
newspapers, and no doubt Neapolitan spies are already watching his
movements, and it may be there are some on board this ship. Our great
fear is that Victor Emmanuel's government may interfere to stop it; but
we doubt whether he will venture to do so--public opinion will be too
strong for him."
"No one can overhear us just at present," Frank said. "Certainly the
Neapolitan spies are active. My mother's house is frequented by many
leading exiles; and we have reason to believe that it has been watched
by a spy for some time past. I know that I have been followed, under the
idea, perhaps, that I am carrying important papers or documents from the
general's friends there. An attempt was made last night to enter the
carriage, in which I was alone, by two men, one of whom was armed with a
pistol, and the other had a handkerchief soaked with chloroform.
Fortunately, I was on my guard, and shot the fellow who was entering
with the handkerchief; he fell backwards out of the carriage; I heard
nothing more of the other one, and for aught I know he may be on board
now."
"You did well indeed!" Sarto said warmly. "I was in the next carriage to
you. I did not hear the sound of your pistol-shot--I was fast asleep;
but we were all woke up by a fellow-passenger who declared he heard a
gunshot. When we reached Valence he called the guard, who said that he
must have been dreaming, for there was only a young Englishman in the
next carriage, and he knew that when it left the last station he was
alone. When the train went on we all abused the fellow soundly for
waking us with his ridiculous fancies; but it seems that he was right
after all. You say there was another. What became of him?"
"I saw nothing more of him. He may be on board, for aught I know, for
they had black handkerchiefs tied over their faces up to the eyes, and
as their hats were pulled well down, I should not know him if I saw
him."
"Well, you have struck the first blow in the war, and I regard it as a
good omen; but you must be careful to-night, for if the fellow is on
board he is likely to make another attempt; and this time, I should say,
he would begin by stabbing you. Are you in a cabin by yourself?"
"Yes."
"Then one of us will sit up by turns. You must have had a bad night
indeed, while we slept without waking, except when I was aroused by that
fellow making such a row."
"Oh, I could not think of that!"
"It must be done," Rubini said earnestly. "However, I will lay the
mattress of the spare bed of your cabin against the door, and lie down
on it--that will do just as well. It will be impossible then to open the
door; and if any one tries to do so, I shall be on my feet in a moment.
I shall sleep just as well like that as in my berth. I have slept in
much more uncomfortable places, and am sure to do so again before this
business is over."
"Thank you very much. I will not refuse so kind an offer, for I doubt
greatly whether I could keep awake to-night."
"Now let us say no more about it, for we may be quite sure that the man
is still on your track, and there may be other Neapolitan agents on
board. We cannot be too careful. It may be that old man who was sitting
facing us at the table, it may be that little fellow who looks like the
agent of a commercial house, and it may be one of the two men who say
they come from South America; there is no telling. But at any rate, let
us drop the subject altogether. We have said nothing at present that
even a spy could lay hold of, beyond the fact that you are going to the
Villa Spinola, which means to Garibaldi."
They did not go up on deck again after dinner, but sat chatting in the
saloon until nine o'clock, when Frank said that he could keep his eyes
open no longer. After allowing him time to get into his berth, Rubini
came in, took off his coat and waistcoat, pulled the mattress and
bedding from the other bunk, and lay down on it with his head close to
the door.
"Will you take one of my pistols, Rubini?" for by this time they called
each other simply by their surnames.
"No, thank you; if the scoundrel tries to open the door and finds that
he cannot do so, you may be sure that he will move off at once. He has
been taught that you are handy with your weapons."
Frank was sleeping soundly when he was woke by Rubini's sharp challenge,
"Who goes there?" It was pitch dark, and he was about to leap from his
bunk, when Rubini said,--
"It is no use getting up. By the time I got this bed away and opened the
door, the fellow would be at the other end of the boat. We may as well
lie quiet. He is not likely to try again; and, indeed, I should not
care about going outside the door, for it is pitch dark, and he might
at the present moment be crouching outside in readiness to stab you as
you came out. However, he is more likely to be gone now, for directly he
heard us talking he would know that his game was up." He struck a match.
"It is just two o'clock," he said; "we may as well have four hours' more
sleep."
In a few minutes Frank was sound asleep again, and when he awoke it was
daylight. Looking at the watch, he found that it was seven o'clock.
"Seven o'clock, Rubini!" he said.
The Italian sat up and stretched his arms and yawned. "I have had a
capital night. However, it is time to get up; we must turn out at once.
We can't be far from Genoa now; we are due there at eight o'clock, so we
shall just have comfortable time for a wash and a cup of coffee before
going ashore."
Frank dressed hastily, and then ran up on deck, where he stood admiring
the splendid coast, and the town of Genoa climbing up the hill, with its
churches, campaniles, and its suburbs embedded in foliage. They were
just entering the port when Maffio came up to him.
"Coffee is ready," he said. "You had better come down and take it while
it is hot. We shall have the custom-house officers off before we land,
so there is no hurry."
After making a meal on coffee with an abundance of milk, rolls and
butter, Frank went up again. He then, at the advice of Rubini, drew the
charges of his pistols and placed them in his portmanteau.
"We must go ashore in a boat," Sarto said. "I have just heard the
captain say that the wharves are so full that he may not be able to take
the vessel alongside for a couple of hours."
"Are you going anywhere in particular when you land?" Frank asked.
"We all belong to Genoa, and have friends here. Why do you ask?"
"Could you spare me an hour of your time to-day? I should not ask you,
but it is rather important."
"Certainly; we are all at your service," Rubini said in some surprise.
"At what hour shall we meet you, and where?"
"I am going to the Hotel Europa. Any time will suit me, so that it is a
couple of hours before dusk. I will tell you what it is when you meet
me; it is better not to speak of it here."
The young men consulted together. "We will go to our friends," Rubini
said, "take our things there and spend an hour, and will call upon you,
if convenient, at eleven o'clock."
"Thank you; and you will see, when I have explained my reason for
troubling you, that I have not done so wantonly."
They landed at the step of the customs. "Have you anything to declare?"
the official asked Frank, after his passport had been examined and
stamped.
"I have nothing but this small portmanteau, which contains only clothes
and a brace of pistols. I suppose one can land with them on payment of
duty."
"Certainly, monsieur; but why should an Englishman want them?"
"I intend to make a walking tour through Italy"--speaking as before in
English; "and there are parts of the country where, after dark, I should
feel more comfortable for having them in my pockets."
"You are strange people, you Englishmen," the officer said; "but, after
all, you are not far wrong, though it seems to me that it would be wiser
to give up what you carry about you than to make a show of resistance
which would end in getting your throat cut." He glanced at the pistols,
named the amount of duty chargeable; and when this was paid, Frank
nodded to his companions, who were being much more rigorously examined,
took one of the vehicles standing outside the custom-house, and drove to
the Hotel Europa.
CHAPTER VI.
THE VILLA SPINOLA
After taking a room and seeing his portmanteau carried up there, Frank
went out for an hour and looked at the shops in the principal street;
then he returned to the hotel, and stood at the entrance until his three
friends arrived. He had again loaded his pistols and placed them in his
pocket, and had engaged an open vehicle that was now standing at the
door.
"Let us start at once," he said; "gentlemen, if you will take your
places with me, I will explain the matter to you as we drive along."
They took their seats.
"Drive to the Strada de Livourno," he said to the coachman; "I will tell
you the house when we get there. Now, my friends," he went on, as the
carriage started, "I will explain what may seem singular to you. My
mother has sent out a letter which contained, I may say, a considerable
sum to be used by the general for the purposes of this expedition. It
had been intended that I should bring it; but when we discovered that
there was a spy in the house, and that our cabinets had been ransacked
and our conversation overheard, it was thought almost certain that an
attempt would be made to rob me of the letter on the way. Finally, after
much discussion, it was agreed to send the letter by post to the care of
the Countess of Mongolfiere, who is an old friend of Signora Forli, my
grandmother; she was convinced that I should be watched from the moment
I landed, and advised me not to go to see the countess until I could
take three of Garibaldi's followers with me, and that after accompanying
me to her house, they should drive with me to the Villa Spinola. Now you
will understand why I have asked you to give up a portion of your first
day to come to aid me."
"I think your friends were very right in giving you the advice,
Percival. After the two attempts that have been made--I will not say to
kill you--but to search you and your luggage, it is certain that
Francisco's agents must have obtained information that you were carrying
money, and perhaps documents of importance, and that they would not take
their eyes off you until either they had gained their object or
discovered that you had handed the parcel over to the general. I have no
doubt that they are following you now in some vehicle or other."
On arrival at the villa of the Countess of Mongolfiere, Frank sent in
his card, and on this being taken in, was at once invited to enter. The
countess was a lady of about the same age as Signora Forli.
"I am glad to see you, Signor Percival," she said. "I have received the
letter from Madame Forli with its enclosure."
"I have brought you another note from her, madame la contessa," he said,
presenting it, "as a proof of my identity; for the matter is of
importance, as you may well suppose, from the manner in which this
letter was sent to you, instead of by the post direct to me."
"So I supposed, signor. Signora Forli said that it concerned the good of
the cause; and the manner in which she begged me to lock it up at once
on my receiving it, was sufficient to show that it either contained
money for the cause or secrets that the agents of the foes of freedom
would be glad to discover. The mere fact that she gave no particulars
convinced me that she considered it best that I should be in the dark,
so that, should the letter fall into other hands, I could say truly that
I had not expected its arrival, and knew nothing whatever of the matter
to which it related."
"It contains drafts for a considerable sum of money, signora, for the
use of Garibaldi. The general, being ignorant of my father's death, had
written to him, asking him to join him, and recalling his promise to
assist with money. My father, unfortunately, could no longer give
personal service, but as he had for years put by a certain portion of
his income for this purpose, my mother had it in her power to send this
money. It was intended that I should bring it; but we found that all our
doings were watched, and that, therefore, there was considerable danger
of my being followed and robbed upon the way; and Signora Forli then
suggested that she should send it direct to you, as possibly a letter
addressed to me here might fall into the hands of the Neapolitan
agents."
"It was a very good plan," the countess said. "And have you been
molested on the way?"
"Attempts have been made on two occasions--once in the train on my way
to Marseilles, and once on board the steamer coming here."
"You must be careful even now, signor. If you are watched as closely as
it would seem, you may be robbed before you can hand this letter over to
the general. There is nothing at which these men will hesitate in order
to carry out their instructions. You might be arrested in the streets
by two or three men disguised as policemen, and carried away and
confined in some lonely place; you might be accused of a theft and given
in charge on some trumped-up accusation, in order that your luggage and
every article belonging to you might be thoroughly searched, before you
could prove your entire innocence. I can quite understand that, when you
first started, the object was simply to search for any papers you might
be carrying, and if this could be done without violence it would be so
effected, although, if murder was necessary, they would not have
hesitated at it; and even now, guessing as they will that you have come
here, directly you have landed, to obtain some important document, they
would, if they could find an opportunity, do anything to obtain it,
before you can deliver it to Garibaldi."
"I quite feel that, signora, and have three young Garibaldian officers
waiting in a carriage below for me, and they will drive with me to the
Villa Spinola."
"That will make you perfectly safe," and she then rose from her seat,
opened a secret drawer in an antique cabinet, and handed him the letter.
"Now, Signor Percival," she said, "this has been a visit of business,
but I hope that when you have this charge off your mind you will, as the
grandson of my old friend Signora Forli, come often to see me while you
are here. I am always at home in the evening, and it will be a great
pleasure to me to hear more of her than she tells me in her letters."
Thanking the countess for her invitation, and saying that he should
certainly avail himself of it, he went down and again took his place in
the carriage.
"Have you found all as you wished?" Sarto asked.
"Yes; I have the letter in my pocket."
"That is good news. Knowing what these secret agents are able to
accomplish, I did not feel at all sure that they might not in some way
have learned how the money was to be sent, and have managed to intercept
the letter."
Having given instructions to the driver where to go, they chatted as
they drove along of the proposed expedition.
"None of us know yet," Rubini said, "whether it is against the Papal
States or Naples. We all received the telegram we had for some time been
hoping for, with the simple word 'Come.' However, it matters not a bit
to us whether we first free the Pope's dominions or Francisco's."
"Will you go in with me to see Garibaldi?"
"No; we have already received orders that, until we are called upon, it
is best that we should remain quietly with our families. Were a large
number of persons to pay visits to him, the authorities would know that
the time was close at hand when he intended to start on an expedition of
some kind. The mere fact that we have come here to stay for a time with
our friends is natural enough; but we may be sure that everything that
passes at the villa is closely watched. It is known, I have no doubt,
that an expedition is intended, and Cavour may wait to prevent it from
starting, until the last moment; therefore I should say that it is
important that no one should know on what date Garibaldi intends to sail
until the hour actually arrives. How we are to get ships to carry us,
how many are going, and how we are to obtain arms, are matters that
don't concern us. We are quite content to wait until word comes to us,
'Be at such a place, at such an hour.'"
"I would give something to know which among the men we are passing are
those who have been on your track," Sarto remarked. "It would be such a
satisfaction to laugh in their faces and to shout, 'Have you had a
pleasant journey?' or, 'We congratulate you,' or something of that
sort."
"They feel sore enough without that," Maffio said. "They are
unscrupulous villains; but to do them justice, they are shrewd ones, and
work their hardest for their employers, and it is not very often that
they fail; and you have a right to congratulate yourself that for once
they have been foiled. It is certainly a feather in your cap, Percival,
that you and your friends have succeeded in outwitting them."
They had now left the city and were driving along the coast road towards
the Villa Spinola. There were only a few people on the road.
"You see, it is well that we came in force," Sarto remarked; "for had
you been alone, the carriage might very well have been stopped, and
yourself seized and carried off, without there being any one to notice
the affair. I have no doubt that even now there is a party somewhere
behind a wall or a hedge, in waiting for you; they would probably be
sent here as soon as you landed, and would not be recalled, as, until
you left the house of the countess, all hope that you would drive along
this road alone would not be at an end."
"We shall call and see you this evening, and we all hope that you will
use our homes as your own while you are staying here," Rubini said. "We
can introduce you to numbers of our friends, all of our way of thinking,
and will do our best to make your stay at Genoa as pleasant as possible.
It may be some time before all is ready for a start, and until that is
the case you will have nothing to do, and certainly Garibaldi will not
want visitors."
"I shall be pleased indeed to avail myself of your kindness," Frank
said. "It will be a great pleasure to me to see something of Italian
society, and I should find time hang very heavy on my hands at the
hotel, where there are, I know, very few visitors staying at present."
"That is the villa," Rubini said, pointing to a large house surrounded
by a high wall.
"Will you take my vehicle back?"
"No; we shall walk. I should advise you to keep the carriage, however
long you may stay here. These fellows will be very sore at finding they
have failed, after all the trouble they have taken in the matter. I
don't say that they will be watching for you; but if they should come
across you in a lonely spot, I think it is very probable that they would
not hesitate to get even with you with the stab of a knife between your
shoulders."
Alighting, Frank rang at the bell. His friends stood chatting with him
until a man, after looking through a grill in the gate, came out; and
then, feeling that their mission was safely accomplished, they started
for their walk back in high spirits.
"I do not know whether the general is in at present, signor," the man
said, as Frank was about to enter. "May I ask your business?"
"If you will take this card to him, I am sure that he will see me."
In three minutes the gates were opened. Frank entered on foot, and would
have left the carriage outside; but the porter said,--
"It had better come in, signor; carriages standing at a gate attract
attention."
Garibaldi was seated in a room with two men, who were, as Frank
afterwards learned, Bixio and Crispi. Garibaldi had risen from his seat
and was looking inquiringly at the door as the lad entered.
"Welcome, Signor Percival! You have come, doubtless, on the part of my
dear friend your father. Has he not come with you? I trust that he is
but delayed."
"I come on the part of my mother, general," Frank replied. "I lost my
father more than a year ago."
"And I had not heard of it!" the general exclaimed. "Alas! alas! for my
friend and comrade; this is indeed a heavy blow to me. I looked forward
so much to seeing him. Oh, how many friends have I lost in the past two
years! And so your mother has sent you to me?"
"She bade me give you this letter, general."
The letter was not a long one. Mrs. Percival briefly told how her
husband had set out to endeavour to find where Professor Forli was
imprisoned, how he had been attacked and killed by brigands, and how
she, knowing what her husband's wishes would have been, had sent her
son. "He is young," she said, "but not so young as many of those who
have fought under you. He is as eager and enthusiastic in the cause of
Italian liberty as was his father, having, as you may well suppose,
learned the tale from my husband and myself, and my father and mother.
As you will see, he speaks Italian as well as English, and I pray you,
for the sake of my husband, to take him on your staff; or, if that
cannot be, he will shoulder a musket and march with you. He does not
come empty-handed. My husband has for years laid by a certain amount to
be used in the good cause when the time came. He will tell you where it
is to be obtained, and how. I wish you success with all my heart, and
if the prayers of two widowed women will avail aught, you will have
them daily. It is my only son I give you, and a widow cannot give more.
The money is from my husband; the boy is from me."
Garibaldi's eyes filled with tears as he read the letter.
"Your mother is a noble woman indeed! How could she be otherwise, as the
daughter of Forli and the wife of my brave comrade? Surely you will be
most welcome to me, young man--welcome if you came only as your mother's
gift to Italy."
Frank opened the envelope, which was directed to himself, and took out
five slips of thin paper.
"These are bills, general," he said, handing them to him. "They are
drawn upon a bank at Genoa, and are each for two thousand pounds."
"Francs, you must mean, surely?" Garibaldi said.
"No, general; they are English pounds."
Exclamations of surprise and gratification broke from Garibaldi and his
two companions.
"This is a royal gift!" the former cried. "My brave comrade is not here
to help us; but he has sent us a wonderful proof of his love for the
cause. It is noble!--it is superb! This will indeed be aid to us," he
went on, holding out his two hands to Frank. "We are strong in men, we
are strong in brave hearts, but money is scarce with us, though many
have given all that they possess. I know, lad, how you English object to
be embraced,--were it not for that, I would take you to my heart; but a
hand-clasp will say as much."
The two officers were almost as much excited as Garibaldi himself, for
this gift would remove one of the obstacles that lay in their way. By
means of a subscription contributed in small amounts by patriots all
over Italy for the purchase of arms, twelve thousand good muskets had
been bought and stored at Milan, together with ammunition. When, a few
days before Frank's arrival, Crispi, with some other of Garibaldi's
officers, had gone to fetch them, they found that Cavour had placed a
guard of royal troops over the magazine, with orders that nothing
whatever was to be taken out. Heavy though the blow had been, the
Garibaldian agents were already at work buying arms, but with no hope of
collecting more than sufficient for the comparatively small force that
would sail for Sicily. Even this addition of funds would not avail to
supply that deficiency, as it was very difficult for the general's
agents, closely watched as they now were, to purchase military weapons.
For some time the conversation turned entirely upon the steps to be
taken, now that the war-chest had been so unexpectedly replenished. Then
Garibaldi put aside the papers on which he had been taking notes, and
said,--
"Enough for the time, Signor Percival. I shall, of course, write myself
to your good mother, expressing my heartfelt thanks, and telling her
that if success attends us, she can be happy in the knowledge that it
will be largely due to her. You will, naturally, yourself write home and
tell her what joy her gift occasioned, how much it added to our hopes
and relieved us of our difficulties. Tell her that I have appointed you
as a lieutenant on my staff, and that I shall trust you as I trusted
your noble father."
"I thank you greatly, general; I hope to prove myself worthy of your
confidence."
"And now, sir, will you advise me as to your own movements?"
"I have put up at the Hotel Europa."
"At present it will be best for you to stay there. We are anxious that
there should be no appearance of any gathering here, and my friends will
not assemble until all the preparations are completed. How did you come
over here?"
"I drove, General; the carriage is waiting for me."
"Then it must wait for awhile; or, better still, it can carry my two
friends here to the town, where they have much to do. In future it will
be best for you to walk over; 'tis but a short distance, and I know that
you English are good walkers. Of course, the authorities know that I am
here; there is no concealment about that. As long as they do not see any
signs of preparations for a movement, they will leave me alone. As
probably your prolonged stay at the hotel may excite curiosity, it is
well that you should visit the galleries and palaces, and take
excursions in the neighbourhood. It may be as well, too, that you should
mention casually at the _table-d'hôte_ that you know me, as your father
was a great friend of mine when we were together in South America, which
will account for your paying visits here frequently. We know that we are
being closely looked after by government spies, and must therefore omit
no precaution. Now I wish you to take lunch with me, as I have many
questions to ask you. I had heard, of course, of Signor Forli being
missing, and of the correspondence between your government and that of
Naples on the subject."
Frank went out and told the driver that he should not be returning for
some time, but that two gentlemen would go back in the carriage in a few
minutes. "As I took the carriage from the hotel, the hire will, of
course, be charged in my bill; but here are a couple of francs for
yourself."
In two or three minutes the Italian officers came out, and thanking
Frank for the accommodation, drove away, while the lad himself
re-entered the villa.
"The meal is ready," Garibaldi said, when he entered the room where he
had left him. "It is very pleasant to me to turn my thoughts for once
from the subject of my expedition."
The meal was a very simple one, though the general had ordered one or
two extra dishes in honour of his guest.
"Now," he said, when they had sat down, and the servant had retired,
"tell me first of all about the loss of my dear friend."
Frank related the story of his father going out to search for Signor
Forli, and how he had been captured and killed by brigands. As the
general listened, his kindly face grew stern and hard, but he did not
speak until Frank brought the tale to an end.
"_Cospetto!_" he exclaimed, "he may have been killed by brigands, but I
doubt not the Neapolitan government were at the bottom of it. I would
wager any money that they hired the men of the mountains to disembarrass
them of one who was exposing the horrible secrets of their prisons. And
you say that his body could not be found. Was the search made for it
simply by the carabinieri?"
"It was made by them, sir, but the secretary of our legation accompanied
them, and wrote that, although he had himself searched everywhere in the
neighbourhood of the hut, he could find no traces whatever of a newly
made grave. I may say that Signora Forli still believes that my father
was not killed, but was, like her husband, carried off to some
dungeon."
"It is possible," the general said, "though I would not encourage you to
hope; the ways of these people are so dark that there is no fathoming
them. Since his grave could not be found, I regard it as certain that he
was not buried there, for his captors would not have troubled to carry
his body far, but would have dug a hole close by and thrown the earth
over the body; and in that case, when the band returned, one or the
other of the men who did the work would most likely have carelessly
pointed to the spot, and said, 'There lies the Englishman.' But though I
believe that he did not die there, he might have died elsewhere. His
wounds were evidently very severe, and they may have proved fatal after
he was carried off by those who took him away from the brigands; if they
were not fatal, he may have been murdered afterwards."
"Signora Forli thought, general, that it was more probable that he had
been taken to one of the prisons, and that, just as they hunted down the
brigands in order that none of these should have power to betray them,
so they might have preferred putting him in prison to having him
murdered, because in the latter case the men employed might go to the
British legation and accept a large sum for betraying the secret."
"It may have been so," the general said; "and if we succeed, perhaps you
will find both your father and grandfather. But do not cherish false
hopes. Even if both were once in the Neapolitan dungeons, they may
before this have succumbed to their treatment there. You have mourned
them as dead; do not buoy yourself up with hope, for if you did so, the
chances are all in favour of your suffering a terrible disappointment."
"That is just what my mother impressed upon me, general. She said that
from the first she had never allowed herself to think of my father as
in prison; and it was not until she received your letter, and thought
that at last there was really a chance that the inmost cells of all the
prisons would be opened, she would admit a possibility of my father
still being alive."
"At least, she and you will have the consolation that if you do not find
those dear to you, you will have aided in restoring fathers and husbands
to hundreds of other grieving wives, mothers, and children."
"May I ask how large a force you are likely to take over with you,
general?"
"If the government had remained neutral and not interfered with me, we
could have found men for the twelve thousand muskets they have seized;
as it is, we have been obliged to write letters to all parts of Italy,
stopping the volunteers who were preparing to join us. Some of these
letters will doubtless fall into the hands of the authorities, and we
have therefore so worded them that it may be supposed that the
expedition has been altogether given up. A thousand men is the utmost
that we can hope to embark secretly. These will be all picked men and
gallant fellows who fought under me in the Alps, or men who have, like
myself, been for years living as exiles. These thousand I have chosen,
every one; they will die fighting, and will never turn their back to an
enemy. Would that I had them all safely landed in Sicily, and had
surmounted all the difficulties and dangers that are caused by the
hostility of the government, which will, however, be glad enough to take
advantage of our work."
"My mother thought that you would probably form the Neapolitan States,
if you conquered them, into a republic."
"That was my dream when I was fighting at Rome but I see now that it is
impossible. I am for a republic on principle, but I must take what I can
get. I cannot conceal from myself that my experience of Mazzini and
other enthusiasts is that they are not practical, they commit terrible
blunders, and the matter ends in a dictatorship, as has twice been the
case in France. Mazzini would sacrifice the practical to gain his ideal.
I care nothing for theory--I want to see Italy free; and this can only
be done under Victor Emmanuel. He is popular and energetic. His father
suffered for his devotion to the cause of freedom. The son is a stronger
man; but at present he is forced by Cavour and the other temporisers who
surround him to curb his own impetuosity.
"I don't like Cavour--he gave up my birthplace, Nice, to France; but, at
the same time, I respect his great ability, and am sure that as soon as
he feels the opportunity has come, he will grasp it, and the king will
not hesitate to accept the possessions that I hope to gain for him. With
Victor Emmanuel King of Northern and Southern Italy, the rest is simple.
Then Italy can afford to wait its opportunity for driving the Austrians
from Venezia, and becoming, for the first time since the days of the
Romans, a united kingdom. When I hoist my banner in Sicily, it will be
as a soldier of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy."
Frank was pleased to hear this. His father, though an advanced liberal
in matters connected with Italy, was a strong conservative at home; and
Frank had naturally imbibed his ideas, which were that the people of a
constitutional monarchy, like that under which he lived, were in every
respect freer and better governed than under any republic, still more so
than they could be under a republic constituted according to the
theories of Mazzini or those of the authors of the first and second
French revolutions.
"By the way, you must have found it a terrible responsibility carrying
so much money with you."
"I did not carry it, general. The bills were, with the letter to you,
sent by post to the care of the Countess of Mongolfiere, who was a
friend of Signora Forli."
"That was hazardous, too," the general said, shaking his head. "To trust
ten thousand pounds to the post was a terrible risk."
"It was the best way that we could think of, general. The courier who
was with my father when he was killed came over to see my mother at her
request, as she wished to hear every detail about my father's last days.
He professed a great fear of returning to Italy, as, having given
evidence against the brigands, he would be a marked man."
"There is no doubt that is so," Garibaldi put in. "His life would not
have been worth a day's purchase. These scoundrels have their agents in
every town, men who keep them informed as to persons travelling, whom it
would be worth while to capture, and of any movements of the carabinieri
in their direction."
"My mother, therefore, took him into her service," Frank went on; "but
two days before I started, she discovered that he had been acting as a
spy, had been opening her desk, examining her letters, and listening at
the door. She and Signora Forli had no doubt whatever that he had made
himself acquainted with the contents of your letter, and believed that I
was going to carry this money to you."
"The villains!" Garibaldi exclaimed, bringing his clenched hand down
upon the table: "it is just what they would do. I know that many of my
friends enjoyed your father's hospitality; and no doubt it would be a
marked house, and the secret police of Francisco would keep an eye over
what was being done there, and would, if possible, get one of their
agents into it. This man, who had no doubt acted as a spy over your
father when he was in Italy, would be naturally chosen for the work; and
his story and pretence of fear served admirably to get him installed
there. If he had learned that you were about to start to bring me ten
thousand pounds, and perhaps papers of importance, it would have been
nothing short of a miracle had you arrived safely with them."
"That was what Signora Forli and my mother thought, sir. They were
afraid to send the letter directed to me at the hotel where I was to
stop, as the man would doubtless telegraph to agents out at Genoa, and
they would get possession of it; so instead of doing so, they enclosed
it in a letter to the countess. I posted it myself, and there was
therefore no chance of the letter being lost, except by pure accident."
"But if the spy did not know that you had sent the letter off by post,
it would render your journey no less hazardous than if you had taken it
with you."
"My mother and the Signora were both convinced that an attempt would be
made to search me and my baggage on the way, but they did not think that
they would try to take my life; for after what had happened to my
grandfather and father, there would be no question that my murder was
the work of Neapolitan agents, and a storm of indignation would thus be
caused."
Garibaldi nodded. "No doubt they were right, and if the scoundrels could
have got possession of what you carried without injury to you they would
have done so. But they would have stuck at nothing in order to carry out
their object; and had you caught them while they were engaged in
searching your clothes or baggage, they would not have hesitated to use
their knives. I cannot now understand how you have come through without
their having meddled with you. It might have been done when you were
asleep in an hotel, or they might have drugged you in a railway
carriage, or in your cabin on board the steamer coming here. The secret
police of Naples is the only well-organised department in the kingdom.
They have agents in London, Paris, and other cities, and from the moment
you left your mother's house you must have been watched. Are you sure
that, although you may not know it, you have not been searched?"
"I am quite sure, sir. We were so certain I should be watched that I
made no attempt to get off secretly, but started by the train I had
intended to travel by. I did not stop a night at an hotel all the way,
and made a point of getting into railway carriages that contained other
passengers. It happened, however, that at Vienne the last of those with
me alighted. It was one o'clock in the morning when we left the station,
and I felt sure that if an attempt was made, it would be before we
stopped, especially as a man looked into the carriage just before we
were starting, and then went away. I had a loaded pistol in each pocket
and a rug over me, and I sat in the corner pretending to be asleep. An
hour later a man came and looked in; another joined him. The door was
partly opened, and an arm with an extended pistol pointed at me, but I
felt perfectly sure that he had no intention of firing unless I woke.
"Half a minute later his comrade entered the carriage. He had an open
knife in one hand, and a cloth in the other; but as he came in I shot
him; he fell back through the carriage door. Whether in doing so he
knocked his comrade down or not, I cannot say; but, at any rate, I saw
no more of him. The man whom I shot had dropped what he held in his hand
on to the floor. It was as I had expected--a handkerchief, soaked with
chloroform. It was seven when I arrived at Marseilles. Fortunately, a
steamer left at twelve. When I went on board I made the acquaintance of
three young men, who were, I guessed, on the same errand as myself;
their names were Rubini, Sarto, and Maffio. We soon became very
friendly, and I found that my conjectures were correct. This being so, I
told them what had happened; and as there was no one besides myself in
my cabin, Rubini most kindly laid a mattress across the door and slept
there. As I had not had a wink of sleep the night before, and only dozed
a little the one before that, I should have had great difficulty in
keeping awake. In the course of the night some one did attempt to open
the door; but he was unable to do so on account of the mattress placed
there, and we heard no more of him. I asked these gentlemen to come to
the Hotel Europa at eleven, for I was really afraid to come along the
road here by myself. They drove with me to the house of the countess,
and then here, so that I was well guarded."
"I know them all well," Garibaldi said. "Rubini is a lieutenant in the
Genoese company of my cacciatori; the others are in his company. You
have done well indeed, my friend; it needed courage to start on such a
journey, knowing that Francisco's police were on your track. You have a
right to feel proud that your vigilance and quickness defeated their
attempt. It is well that you met Rubini and his friends; for as the
spies would know directly you entered the palazzo of the countess that
you had gone there for some special purpose, probably to obtain
documents sent to her, I doubt whether you would have been able to come
safely alone, even if the road had been fairly well thronged."
"I should not have gone to the countess's unless I had an escort,
general. My intention was to come to you in the first place, and ask
that three of your officers might accompany me to get the letter; but,
of course, after having found friends who would act as my escort, there
was no occasion to do so. I suppose there is no fear of my being further
annoyed?"
"I should think not," Garibaldi said; "now they know that your mission
has been carried out, you will cease to be of interest to them. But at
the same time, it would be well to be cautious. If the fellow you shot
was the leader of those charged to prevent the supplies and letter
coming to me, we may consider that there is an end of the affair. His
death will give a step to some one, and they will owe you no ill will.
If, however, the other man was the chief of the party, he would
doubtless owe you a grudge. He is sure to be blamed for having been thus
baffled by a lad; whereas had he succeeded, he would have received the
approval of his superiors. I think, therefore, if I were you, I should
abstain from going out after nightfall, unless with a companion, or if
you do so, keep in the great thoroughfares and avoid quiet streets. That
habit of carrying a loaded pistol in your pocket has proved a valuable
one, and I should advise you to continue it so long as you are here. If
you see Rubini, tell him that I thank him for the aid he and his friends
rendered you. He and the others have all been instructed not to come
here until they receive a communication that the time for action has
arrived. My followers send me their addresses as soon as they reach
Genoa, so that I can summon them when they are needed. It would never do
for numbers of men to present themselves here. The authorities know
perfectly well that I am intending to make an expedition to Sicily; but
as long as they see no signs of activity, and their spies tell them that
only some half-dozen of my friends frequent this villa, they may be
content to abstain from interference with me; indeed, I do not think
that in any case they would venture to prevent my sailing, unless they
receive urgent remonstrances from Austria or France. Were such
remonstrances made, they would now be able to reply that, so far as they
can learn, I am remaining here quietly, and am only visited by a few
private friends."
CHAPTER VII.
THE EXPEDITION SAILS.
Frank spent a pleasant three weeks in Genoa. The three young men did all
in their power to make the time pass agreeably to him: they introduced
him to their families and friends; one or the other of them always
accompanied him to the theatre or opera, or, as much more frequently
happened, to gatherings at their own houses or at those of
acquaintances. Many of these were, like themselves, members of the
Genoese corps; and both as a relative of two men who had sacrificed
their lives in the cause of freedom, and especially for the aid that his
mother had sent to Garibaldi to enable him to carry out his plans, he
was everywhere most warmly received. He himself had not told, even his
three friends, the amount that his mother had contributed; but
Garibaldi's companions had mentioned it to others, and it soon became
known to all interested in the expedition.
Twice a week Frank drove out to Quarto. Matters had been steadily
progressing. A thousand rifles, but of a very inferior kind, had been
obtained from Farini, and a few hundred of a better class had been
bought. These latter were for the use of Garibaldi's own band, while the
others would be distributed among such Sicilians as might join him on
his landing. These would for the most part come armed, as large numbers
of guns and stores of ammunition had been accumulated in the island for
use in the futile insurrection a few months previously.
On May 5th all was ready. Frank paid his hotel bill, left his trunk to
be placed in the store-room until he should send or return for it, and
with a bundle, in which his sword was wrapped up
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