the steep hill her hoofs making no
more than a soft, pad, pad noise in the mud. Lucia dropped to the
ground again and crawled slowly after her. Below her, almost at the
river's edge, she could see the two soldiers slipping and stumbling
along.

She wriggled on in the mud until she was well below the crest of the
hill, then she got up and began to run. She jumped from one rock to
the next, always keeping the two men in sight, but keeping under cover
herself. The men kept to the bank of the river and moved forward
cautiously. Lucia kept abreast of them, but stayed high up above their
heads.

It was a long walk, for the river twisted and turned many times before
it reached the walls of Cellino. But it did not tire Lucia, as it did
the two men. They walked slower and slower as the afternoon wore on,
stopping every few minutes to rest and talk excitedly.

At a little before sunset the guns grew louder and seemed to be much
nearer. All day there had been a dull rumble, but now they burst out
into a terrific roar. Lucia saw the men below her stop and look up.
They stood still for a long time, and then hurried on. Until now the
road had been deserted, but ahead at the end of a footbridge, just
around a sharp turn, Lucia, from her vantage point, could see another
figure. The soldiers could not have seen him, but when they reached
the turn of the road they both left the open and took cover in the
rocks above.

Lucia watched narrowly. They did not stop as she half expected them to
do, but crept on until they were abreast of the man. He was a beggar
to judge by his shabby clothes, and he was apparently whiling away his
afternoon by staring into the river.

Lucia's first thought was that the Austrians would shoot him. She
caught her breath sharply when a queer thing happened. One of the
soldiers picked up a stone and threw it down into the stream.

CHAPTER VIII

THE SURPRISE ATTACK

Without turning his head, the beggar picked up a stone and tossed it
into the river. He repeated this twice.

Lucia watched, fascinated. The soldiers left their hiding-place and
came down to the road. The beggar took something out of the pocket of
his coat, handed it to one of the soldiers, and shuffled off in the
opposite direction.

Lucia waited to see what the soldiers would do. She expected them to
return, but instead they waited until the beggar was out of sight, and
then hurried across the foot-bridge and plun