Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 1).djvu/19

 cheat a sbirro was a loyal task that brought praise and honour to whosoever had accomplished it.

Therefore for years the seizing of Saturnino had been impossible, and scarcely even desired by the authorities, so great an unpopularity was his capture certain to produce.

But at the last the brigand had grown too audacious: he had seized foreigners of note, and foreign governments had bestirred themselves, and it had been thought needful to show some vigour and vigilance against a mocker of the law who would stride about in the towns of the Maremma in festal bravery, secure of immunity, and boasting that no ruler of them all would dare to touch him. Troops had been put in motion; municipalities arraigned by ministers, and at last it was felt that the great days of Saturnino Mastarna must be numbered.

The Government had been told by foreign nations that it behoved its own honour not to leave him at large any longer. So strenuous efforts had been made all summer through, and the hill sides had swarmed with scouts and sharpshooters, and at last on one misty October night, the State had been one