for the purpose of bringing home such
of the banditti as happened to be wounded in their encounters. Ludovico
spread it on the ground, and, placing the skins of several goats upon
it, made a kind of bed, into which the Chevalier, who was however now
much revived, was gently lifted; and, the poles being raised upon the
shoulders of the guides, whose footing among these steeps could best
be depended upon, he was borne along with an easy motion. Some of the
Count's servants were also wounded--but not materially, and, their
wounds being bound up, they now followed to the great gate. As they
passed along the hall, a loud tumult was heard at some distance, and
Blanche was terrified. 'It is only those villains in the dungeon, my
Lady,' said Ludovico. 'They seem to be bursting it open,' said the
Count. 'No, my Lord,' replied Ludovico, 'it has an iron door; we have
nothing to fear from them; but let me go first, and look out from the
rampart.'

They quickly followed him, and found their mules browsing before the
gates, where the party listened anxiously, but heard no sound, except
that of the torrent below and of the early breeze, sighing among the
branches of the old oak, that grew in the court; and they were now glad
to perceive the first tints of dawn over the mountain-tops. When they
had mounted their mules, Ludovico, undertaking to be their guide, led
them by an easier path, than that by which they had formerly ascended,
into the glen. 'We must avoid that valley to the east, my Lord,'
said he, 'or we may meet the banditti; they went out that way in the
morning.'

The travellers, soon after, quitted this glen, and found themselves in
a narrow valley that stretched towards the north-west. The morning light
upon the mountains now strengthened fast, and gradually discovered the
green hillocks, that skirted the winding feet of the cliffs, tufted with
cork tree, and ever-green oak. The thunder-clouds being dispersed, had
left the sky perfectly serene, and Blanche was revived by the fresh
breeze, and by the view of verdure, which the late rain had brightened.
Soon after, the sun arose, when the dripping rocks, with the shrubs that
fringed their summits, and many a turfy slope below, sparkled in his
rays. A wreath of mist was seen, floating along the extremity of the
valley, but the gale bore it before the travellers, and the sun-beams
gradually drew it up towards the summit of the mountains. They had
proceeded about a league, w