THE FOOL ERRANT - World eBook Library - World Public Library

me and bury me alive.
CHAPTER XXXVII. I COMMIT A DOUBLE MURDER
Francis Antony Strelley, Tennis-ball of Fate, should be inscribed upon my tomb, unless like the wandering Jew I were not
destined to have any other than that restless globe upon whose shelving surfaces I was for ever to slip and slide. Here was I
once more buffeted on to the road; and yet I could not fairly pretend that there was no fault of mine concerned in the stroke. O,
fatal dower of beauty that was thine, Aurelia! Could I say that, had I maintained my firm resolve of a few days' date, and fixed
my heart and inclination where they were due— towards the loving bosom and welcoming arms of my Virginia—this new
shame had come upon me? Alas, what malign influence drew thee, lady, to Siena, to rekindle my flame, to melt my conjugal
desires, to betray me into the old passion, to draw me into the old despair? Thus I bitterly questioned myself as, guarded on
either hand by mounted men, I descended the silent street on the way to what I must needs consider perpetual imprisonment.
Going out of the Porta Romana, where we were obliged to wait in the cold drizzle of a cheerless dawn for the porter to open
the gate, a deeply veiled, respectably dressed young woman asked the favour of our escort from the corporal, and received it,
probably on account of her good looks, which should be extraordinary. She was going, she said, to join her husband at
Volterra, and feared the brigands who were notoriously rife in that country. The corporal offered to take her pillion behind him.
"Willingly, sir," she said, and was lifted up by the troopers. As we went out of the gate she raised her veil to use her
handkerchief and to look at me. In a moment I saw that it was my brave and affectionate Belviso, and was no little comforted
by the thought that here, at any rate, was one heart in Siena generously inclined to mine.
We baited at Colle, and rested there two or three hours; from thence we mounted a very steep hill and reached a country of
abounding desolation and misery, where bare grey hills alternated with dense thickets, and were told that there was not a human
habitation for the rest of the journey to Volterra. Our guards saw to the priming of their muskets before they started from Colle,
and kept a sharp lookout on all sides of the way. We met nothing, however, threatening or otherwise, for nearly half our
journey, but somewhere about four o'clock of the afternoon, when we were traversing a barren moor, the corporal gave a
sharp cry and reined up his horse. Before I knew what he was about a pistol had been placed in my hands, and he said, "Every
man for himself now. You are free, sir."
"How—free?" I asked him.
His reply was to point ahead of us. "Brigands," he said, "and the Kingdom of Heaven in view."
The troopers got off their horses, lashed them by the bridles, head to head, and stood behind them with their muskets pointed
the way the enemy was coming. They were upon us almost before I had seen anything but a cloud of whirling dust. They came
on at a furious pace, yelling and discharging their arms, and made short work of our defenses. The three soldiers were killed
and rifled. I and Belviso had our hands tied, were strapped on to horses, put in the midst of the band, who were all masked,
and carried off at a terrible rate across the open country. We went down a mountain side, crossed a torrent and crashed into a
thick belt of woodland which lay beyond it. In the midst of this a ruined chapel or hermitage seemed to serve our captors for a
camp; for here they drew rein and disposed of us, their booty. My feet were bound, as my hands already had been, and I was
thrown thus helpless on my face on one side; the miserable Belviso, whose disguise and beauty made him appear what he had
so unhappily pretended to be, had his hands tied behind him, but his ankles left free. Him they placed on the other side of the
ruin at some distance from me. They had made no effort to search me, my wretched rags of a clown of the theatre being my
protection, and by that means only I was able to keep the pistol given me by the corporal. Mercifully I had not used it yet, for
when the attack was made I saw that I had better make no defence if I wished to save my life; and I could not see that I had
any good reason for risking it on behalf of the soldiers. I suppose it must have been evident that I was a prisoner, and that it
would be better worth their while to keep and sell me as a slave than to blow my brains out. It was only too clear what they
intended to do with my poor friend.
The brigands, so soon as they were rid of us, set to work preparing a meal for themselves. They lit a fire in the chapel, filled a
cauldron, fed and watered their horses. Very soon they were all about the pot, eating and drinking like wild beasts; and when
the meat was done they went on with the wine and brandy which they had in abundance, played cards and dice, quarrelled or
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