anduccio, I salute you!" said he, then turning toward Orso,
he bowed to him, also, gravely.

"That," he remarked, "is what I call a man who has been properly done
for."

"Is he still alive?" asked Orso, who could hardly breathe.

"Oh! he wouldn't wish it! he'd be too much vexed about the bullet you
put into his eye! Holy Madonna! What a hole! That's a good gun, upon my
soul! what a weight! That spatters a man's brains for you! Hark ye, Ors'
Anton'! when I heard the first _piff, piff_, says I to myself: 'Dash it,
they're murdering my lieutenant!' Then I heard _boum, boum_. 'Ha, ha!'
says I, 'that's the English gun beginning to talk--he's firing back.'
But what on earth do you want with me, Brusco?"

The dog guided him to the other field.

"Upon my word," cried Brandolaccio, utterly astonished, "a right and
left, that's what it is! Deuce take it! Clear enough, powder must be
dear, for you don't waste it!"

"What do you mean, for God's sake?" asked Orso.

"Come, sir, don't try to humbug me; you bring down the dame, and then
you want somebody to pick it up for you. Well! there's one man who'll
have a queer dessert to-day, and that's Lawyer Barricini!--you want
butcher's meat, do you? Well, here you have it. Now, who the devil will
be the heir?"

"What! is Vincentello dead too?"

"Dead as mutton. _Salute a noi!_ The good point about you is that you
don't let them suffer. Just come over and look at Vincentello; he's
kneeling here with his head against the wall, as if he were asleep. You
may say he sleeps like lead, this time, poor devil."

Orso turned his head in horror.

"Are you certain he's dead?"

"You're like Sampiero Corso, who never had to fire more than once. Look
at it there, in his chest, on the left--just where Vincileone was hit at
Waterloo. I'll wager that bullet isn't far from his heart--a right and
left! Ah! I'll never talk about shooting again. Two with two shots, and
bullets at that! The two brothers! If he'd had a third shot he'd have
killed their papa. Better luck next time. What a shot! Ors' Anton'! And
to think that an honest poor chap like me will never get the chance of a
right and a left two gendarmes!"

As he talked the bandit was scanning Orso's arm, and splitting up his
sleeve with his dagger.

"This is nothing," said he. "But this coat of yours will give Signorina
Colomba work to do. Ha! what's this I see? this gash upon your chest?
Nothing went in there, surely? No! you wouldn't