Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 2).djvu/314

 other Lombard Romeo was hiding with her hand in his, her breath upon his cheek, in the darkness of the wooded glades and the hushed mystery of the moorland night.

By his watch two hours went by; then, listening intently, he heard a sound of several feet moving amidst the grass above him.

They were near. He sat in the same position, but he took a revolver in each hand, ready cocked, and fixed his eyes on the stone doorway.

The steps came, heavy and trampling, down the few steps into the entrance-place.

There were some dozen men in all, black-browed fierce-eyed charcoal-burners of the mountains; the father of Zefferino was in the rear; he carried the only lantern amidst them; they were all armed with daggers or knives, two or three had axes also and pickaxes.

They expected in the buche delle fate to find more gold than all the Emperors of Rome had owned.

Sanctis watched them, without moving; they did not see him as they hustled and trampled through the entrance, already jealous of each other, hot with greed, burn-