I advanced
towards the opening, and was just about to move aside the luxuriant
growth that alone separated me from the world without, when methought I
heard human voices outside proceeding from no very long distance from
the aperture. Even a human shadow flitted for a moment across the
opening, obscuring for a second some of the glowing sunlight. I was loth to emerge from my hiding place into the open air in sight of
men, as, besides startling them, I should myself become an object of
wonderment and create a scene I particularly wished to avoid. So I
resolved to pause awhile until they should presently pass on, when I
could emerge alone and unobserved. In this I was disappointed; they
seemed to have no intention whatever of moving on. There they sat
apparently over their meal, chatting at intervals. It was impossible but
that I should thus overhear some fragments of their conversation, and
what I _did_ hear made my blood run cold. "Dost remember, Gaspero," said one, "on our last sally, when we captured
the fat landowner from Montefiascone, and sent him back to his friends
with his nose and his ears slit because they wouldn't send the ransom in
time?" "_Corpo di Bacco!_ don't I?" answered another. "But I'll tell you what,
if the 'Cavalli leggeri' get wind of our whereabouts this time, it will
be short shrift for all of us." "Bah!" said a third, "haven't we good spies enough always on the alert
to warn us of their approach?" "True," said the former, "but don't let us talk, or we shall miss the
signal." Then silence reigned for a brief space, broken now and again by some
casual remark hardly audible. Here was a pretty to do! Had I been
rescued from death by starvation only to stumble upon a nest of
brigands? Oh, the irony of it! I trembled for the loss of the little
gold I had upon me, but more still for the precious ring upon my finger. "I must risk nothing," I said to myself, "and bide here in patience at
any cost till they depart." I dreaded lest the beating of my own heart--so audible to myself--should
betray me. Thus a full hour or more passed away, when on a sudden I
heard a sound like the hooting of an owl in the distance. "The signal--the signal!" exclaimed several voices at once, and up they
jumped like one man and took to their heels with the speed of lightning. I began to emerge from my cavern, and just managed to catch a glimpse of
some peaked hats, carbines, and sandalled legs, which soon disappeared
for ever from my view. I was now once more under the clear dome of
Heaven. The sky was absolutely cloudless, the heat intense. I shaded my
eyes with my hand to protect them from the glare of the hot sun which
now shone mercilessly down upon my bare head, for my hat had been left
far behind me in that subterranean burial place. I tried to realise my
situation. Where was I? I was in the centre of a very arid plain with
blue mountains on the horizon and lines of ruined aqueducts in the
middle distance. Not a hut within sight. The sun was intolerable, and I
felt ready to faint from hunger and exhaustion. I gathered some broad
green leaves to protect my head, and then looked around me for
something to assuage the pangs of hunger. I recollected that the brigands had been carousing close to the opening
of my cave, so I returned thither to inspect the spot. To my intense joy
I discovered some broken victuals. There were sundry crusts of bread,
some cheese parings, a few slices of raw ham, a whole leg of a chicken,
besides other bones not quite bare, which I devoured ravenously. Also a
hard-boiled egg and half a flask of good wine. All this I put away in
very short time, but I wanted more. It was barely enough to whet my
appetite. However, I felt better, and could now contemplate my past
adventures with great complacency. The next question was, in what part of the world was I? Which course
should I steer? North, south, east, or west. I feared being benighted
and losing my way altogether. I sat down on a clump of ancient ruin to
collect my ideas. Presently I heard faintly in the distance the peculiar
cry of a Roman bullock driver, as he goaded on his sluggish team. I
raised my eyes, and saw about half-a-mile off one of those drays drawn
by buffaloes and laden with large blocks of white marble from the
mountains for the use of sculptors. I hastened my steps and hailed the
driver. "_Accidentaccio!_" cried the man in amazement and horror at the sight of
my bleeding head and general woe-begone appearance. "What a sight! _Che diavolo!_----"

Here followed a string of questions which I felt in no humour to answer,
so I cut him short by asking him to let me get upon his dray, as I
wanted a little sleep, and that I would remember him as soon as we
arrived at the gates of Rome. "Certainly, signore," said the man, brightening up, "and if you would
like a covering for your head from the sun----"

Here he produced some sort of light drugget--there was no other
covering, for the dray was only constructed to carry marble and not
passengers. So I mounted, and flung myself full length on a large block of marble,
covering my head well up and endeavouring to sleep. So complete was my
state of utter exhaustion that even my uncomfortable position and the
rough jolting of the cumbersome dray when its massive wheels encountered
some big stone combined with the constant cry of the driver in my ears
as he goaded on his sluggish brutes of burden, was all insufficient to
prevent nature from taking her proper course, and I actually slept--ay,
slept like a top, spite of heat, dust, flies, noise, etc., until towards
nightfall I reached the gates of Rome. The stars shone out with unusual
splendour. I felt considerably refreshed after my long slumber, so I
descended, and remunerating the driver liberally, entered the eternal
city. My first thought was to hasten off to a hatter's, where I purchased a
hat, and then called upon a doctor. He was out, so I left my address,
leaving word for him to call at my hotel in the Piazza di Spagna on the
morrow, at ten in the morning. I then repaired to my hotel and heard
that my friend Rustcoin had been inquiring for me, and marvelled much at
my absence. I then had a wash and a brush down, changed the bloodstained
handkerchief for a clean one, and ordered supper in my room. On the morrow, punctually at ten, the doctor made his appearance. He
examined my wound, prescribed me a lotion, and then asked how the
accident had occurred. In my youthful simplicity I related my tale from
beginning to end, omitting no detail. He looked at me suspiciously, shook his head, and said that the danger
was even more than he thought. He had no doubt that besides the wound in
my head, I was likewise suffering from sunstroke, which would account
for these hallucinations. Could anything be more irritating? After all the trouble I had taken in
relating my adventures, even to the merest details--to be looked upon
either as a madman or impostor!