adventures alone. I heard a pistol-shot some time back," he continued,
looking menacingly at Esperance. "Perhaps Ludovico has been
assassinated! If so, it shall go hard with his murderers! Let him be
searched for."

The short, thick-set lieutenant, accompanied by several of the band,
immediately departed to obey the order.

Esperance glanced anxiously at Giovanni. A new danger threatened them.
The gigantic brigand who had been slain was, without doubt, this
Ludovico. His body would be found and summary vengeance taken upon them.
Giovanni also realized the additional peril; but neither of the young
men gave the slightest evidence of fear; inwardly they resolved to face
death stoically, to meet it without the quiver of a muscle.

In a brief space the lieutenant and his companions returned; two of the
men bore the corpse of the huge robber; they placed it on the grass by
the roadside where the full moonlight streamed upon it, showing the
wound in the breast and the garments saturated with blood. A frown
contracted the leader's visage; he glanced at Esperance and the Viscount
with a look of hate and rage; then, turning to the lieutenant, he said:

"Well?"

"We found Ludovico lying in the road a little distance from here,"
replied the short, thick-set man, with a trace of emotion in his rough
voice. "He was shot in the heart and had been dead for some time."

The brigands had gathered about the prostrate form of their comrade;
they seemed to be much affected by his fate; Ludovico was evidently a
favorite.

As soon as the leader had received his subordinate's report, he turned
to the prisoners, asking, sternly:

"Which of you murdered this man?"

"No murder was committed," returned Esperance, indignantly. "The huge
ruffian shot my friend, shattering his arm, as you see; he was killed as
a measure of defence."

"Your pistol is discharged," continued the leader, harshly; "that you
have admitted; you killed Ludovico!"

"I defended my friend, whom he had basely attacked," said Esperance,
sullenly.

"You killed this man? Yes or no!"

"I killed him!"

"Enough!" cried the leader, grinding his teeth. "You shall pay the
penalty of your crime! Both of you shall die!"

He motioned to his lieutenant and in an instant Esperance and Giovanni
were securely bound. The young men read desperate resolution and fierce
vengeance upon all the rough countenances around them. There was not the
faintest glimmer of hope; death woul