ed. Fear got
the better of her, and in an agony of mind she imagined every possible
harm to Beppi.

But she was not allowed to stay long in that state of mind, for
suddenly the guns broke into a terrible roar. The air was black with
smoke and the house trembled and rocked under her.

She jumped up and ran to the window. Great volumes of smoke arose to
the east, and higher geysers of dirt and rock flew up into the air.

"The Austrians!" Lucia did not stop to think in her fear. She dashed
out of the house and down the road in the opposite direction from the
town. Without realizing the personal danger to herself, she ran as
fast as she could. Fear and the noise of the exploding shells sent her
plunging ahead regardless of direction.

Instinctively she took the path to the right at the foot of the village
and climbed up to the little plateau. She was directly under the fire
of her own guns, but the noise from both sides was so great that she
did not know it, and she forged ahead, shouting. In all the tumult she
could not even hear her own voice, but to shout relieved her nerves of
the terrible strain.

When she reached the plateau she climbed on up, choosing the spot
where, earlier in the day, the Italian soldiers had come from, and
slipping and sliding, but always goaded on by fear, and the knowledge
that she must tell some one about the beggar, she kept on her way.

She did not know how long she ran, or when it was that she stumbled,
but suddenly everything was black before her eyes, and the noise of the
guns was blotted out by the awful ringing in her ears. Then came
oblivion.

When she next realized anything, she was conscious of some one bending
over her and holding a water bottle to her lips. She drank gratefully
and opened her eyes. The Italian soldier was beside her, and another
man was lying on the ground near her.

"Give me something to eat," she said, trying to sit up, "or I will go
away again." Going away was the only way she knew of, to express the
sensation of fainting.

The Italian took something out of his knapsack and gave it to her.
Lucia ate ravenously, and the queer feeling at the pit of her stomach
disappeared.

"How did you escape?" he asked.

The question brought back a sudden wave of memory, and Lucia jumped up
excitedly.

"By the river road--two Austrians and a beggar--they met by the
foot-bridge, over there where the noise comes from; I saw them." She
recalled the fac