Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 2).djvu/197

 Saturnino Mastarna looked in turn at him, with a hungry, longing look.

'You know her?' he muttered, very low, as the sailor passed him.

Daniello, eager to catch a hint or a sign, with his quick, ardent southern mind, murmured back to him:

'What is she to you—tell me?'

'I am her father,' answered the galley-slave; and he bent his shoulders to the rope-yoke with which he and five of his comrades were doing oxen's work in moving with cords the great blocks of the fresh stone that was being fitted into the Pelasgic wall,

As for the Sicilian, the red sunset skies and the shallow waters of the lagoon seemed to circle round him: he felt as if the high black rocks of Argentaro had fallen upon him.

The men of Sicily in general do not think a brigand a criminal; the calling to them seems a fair and a brave one. To take to the hills is, in their sight, natural enough, and honourable, since it needs a sure eye, a firm hand, a steady foot, and a bold spirit. But Daniello Villamagna came of an old seafaring stock, who had been always most