aint from loss of blood!" exclaimed Esperance, much alarmed.
"How thoughtless in me not to bind up your wound!"

Taking his handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the blood from his
friend's arm, carefully, tenderly bandaging the hurt; then he made a
sling of Giovanni's handkerchief, placing the wounded member in it. The
Viscount felt easier thus, though still somewhat faint.

"You are quite a physician, Esperance," said he.

"Not at all," replied the son of Monte-Cristo; "but my father taught me
how to manage hurts; he said the knowledge would at some time be useful
to me, and his words have proved true."

"Your father is a wonderful man; he seems to think of everything, to
provide for all contingencies. Thanks to the skill he imparted to you, I
am now in a condition to start on the homeward journey."

The young men turned their faces towards Rome, but scarcely had they
taken a dozen steps when the road in front of them literally swarmed
with rough-looking armed men, who effectually barred their progress. In
an instant they were surrounded. Resistance was impossible; the two
friends glanced at each other and about them in dismay. The new comers
were evidently bandits, members of Luigi Vampa's desperate band.

One of the miscreants, who appeared to be the leader and was very
picturesquely attired, confronted Giovanni and Esperance. He had a
pistol in his belt, but did not draw it.

"You are my prisoners!" said he, in a tone of authority.

"Who are you, and by what right do you detain us?" demanded Esperance,
haughtily.

"Who I am," replied the brigand, in a stern voice, "does not concern
you. The right by which I detain you is the right of the strongest!"

"We cannot oppose your will, however unreasonable and unjust," returned
Esperance; "my friend is wounded and my pistol is discharged. We can
only throw ourselves upon your mercy; but we are gentlemen in spite of
our dress, and demand to be treated as such!"

"How came your friend to be wounded and your pistol discharged?" asked
the bandit, suspiciously.

"My friend was attacked and I went to his assistance," answered
Esperance.

"You were in a fight, then," resumed the leader. Turning suddenly to his
men, he asked: "Where is Ludovico?"

"He went up the road half an hour since, and has not yet returned,"
answered a short, thick-set young fellow, who seemed to be the leader's
lieutenant.

"Just like him," said the leader. "Always rash, always seeking