GIANNI, OR, A NIGHT-SCENE.

BY VIATOR.

HAVE you ever been at Naples, gentle reader? I suppose myself addressing a lady, of course. If you have been there, you have probably heard many such a tale as that I am about to tell; and whether you have or not, you may listen patiently at least to one. I intended to introduce you formally to its narrator, my friend Maria V. But the story is rather long, my limits brief, and therefore I shall give it you in the colloquial and unambitious style of my friend, without the gratification and advantage of any exordium of my

own.

My sister Chiarina, on approaching her sixteenth year, began to exhibit symptoms of that sad malady, decline; common, I am told in your country, but happily rare in ours, though looked upon, with what wisdom I know not, as eminently infectious and dangerous. So deeply rooted is this feeling or this fear, that when the disease is sufficiently advanced to be easily recognised, it is difficult to get the sufferer received in any family above the tyranny of pecuniary motives; so attentive are my countrymen to suspicious appearances of this sort, so uncompromising in the precautions they take for their security.

My sister being ordered to try a change of air, it was resolved to send her to Eboli, where we had some relations, who consented to run the risk of lodging her for a time; and a good easy carriage being provided, I was deputed to escort her on the road, and provide for her safety and accommodation.

After what I have said, it will be understood why we determined to proceed leisurely, and stop one night on the way, as it was clearly desirable that no avoidable fatigue should be incurred. We should have had some difficulty, perhaps, in finding a lodging at Salerno : but in this respect fortune favoured us, for an intimate friend of our family, a young captain, between whom and my sister a growing attachment, much desired by their respective families, was supposed to exist, had promised to see us hospitably entertained during our short stay in that city, in which he had been for several months stationed.

Our departure was delayed for more than a fortnight by the various unforeseen obstacles that do commonly embarrass and retard departures of that kind; but at last we set off, and we proceeded without any accident as far as the beautiful valley of Nocera de Pagani. We stopped for an hour or two at this pretty town, and then ordering fresh horses, (having sent our own back to Naples,) we prepared to continue our little journey during the cool evening hours of a summer's day.

On in

A difficulty occurred when we were prepared to start. quiry, we learned that the only vetturino, or driver, then to be found in the town, was ill,-very ill, indeed, if his oaths were to be believed. They were certainly belied by his looks; but he assured us his fever was very "hypocritical," and that, in spite of appear. ances, he was really only fit to be in bed, though he granted that,

out of bravado, he had been all day at the asterio, or public house, playing at la morra,* and drinking his share of all the wine thereby won and lost.

A commissary of police, who was applied to on the occasion, gave Gianni unanswerable reasons to prove that the excursion would be beneficial to his health and to his respectability; whereupon, though with several appeals to his red cheeks as evidence of ill health, he agreed to conduct us to Salerno; and somewhat late, on account of this delay, we departed for that once renowned seat of learning.

So many accidents happened to us, that they far exceeded the com mon measure, and retarded our progress so effectually, that night overtook us on the long descent that leads from the venerable and antiquated city of La Cava down again to the shores of the tideless Tyrrhenian sea. In vain I besought Gianni to urge on his refrac. tory jades of Calabrian mares; he refused, and something unusually rude in his replies made me suspect he had other motives for delay than the weariness of his cattle, though I could not conjecture what they might be.

We had reached Vietri, and already the evening star was faintly visible, and the moon, preparing for her journey through the night, had traced a long path of radiance on the slumbering waters of the Gulf of Salerno. Here and there a tardy fisher's boat was hastening on the solitary way, its white triangular sail filled with the treasure of the evening breeze, and wafting to Amalfi, or some other coast-town, the frugal reward with which the unproductive waters of the bay ac knowledged the industry of the belated seaman.

Behind us, cn the left, lay the road we had ascended amid clumps of beeches and chestnuts, or patches of olives and vines, chequered here and there by clusters of whitewashed cottages, a few tall um. brella pines, or one of the slender towers where the slingers await the coming of the African pigeons, which their comrades with nets are waylaying below, and which they allure to descend by casting white stones, a rude imitation of butterflies, far into the green and wooded valley. As we looked, the road seemed to turn back unwillingly, and wind its way down from shade to shade, till it was lost amid the dark and heavy masses of foliage that hid from view the pretty town where we had rested during the heat of the day, its churches, its ruins, and even its rocky hills, with their castled summits. To complete the features of evening, the bell now tolled solemnly from the celebrated old convent of La Trinita, and bade man waft the last petition of that day, the vesper prayer, on the wings of the rising wind to the vault

of heaven.

Gianni, on pretence of the call to religious duties, stopped, alight. ed, and began to mutter his accustomed orison. As he stood bare. headed in the full light of the moon, I read in his disturbed counte. nance more danger than I thought fit to confide to my poor sister, who complaining of the cold, and coughing sadly, wrapped herself up more and more in shawl, and kerchief, and cloak.

Calling Gianni to me, I told him with as much coolness as I could muster that my sister was suffering from the night air, and that if he did not immediately go forward on his journey, I should

A curious game played on the fingers, and a great favourite with the people.

myself take his place and proceed alone. I must confess that while speaking, I rather ostentatiously displayed a brace of pistols, that he might understand I was prepared for the worst chances of travelling. He eyed me a while in silence, and then approaching close to where I stood, said almost in a whisper,

"Let me speak to you one moment, where we can't be overheard."

I walked with him to a little distance from the carriage, and there putting his mouth to my ear he said in a low distinct voice,

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"I am trying to save your lives!-don't hurry me, and perhaps I shall succeed. I have taken a dreadful oath, and can tell you no more; but by the blood of San Gennaro, by the sorrows of the Virgin, by all that man can swear by, and perish if he is forsworn, I mean you no thing but good. Look here." He pulled out of his breast something that was fastened to his neck by a small chain. "Can you see this?" said he.

"Not very well; but it seems the image of a saint."

66 It is so of the most beautiful and bountiful saint in heaven. She has been the patron and protectress of my family for-ever, I think; and she is such an exact likeness of your sister, that I would rather die than injure her or you. But do take my advice, and throw your pistols into the hedge for the present; or, at least, if we are surrounded by people, try to forget the use of such foolish things, or, at any rate, don't make a show of them, as you did just now; it would ruin us at once. Above all, let us have no fighting and no talking, for neither will do any good."

Having said this, he again left me, and returned to the side of the carriage, but manifested no intention of proceeding.

I was silent for I knew not what to do; but at length, fearing that a long stay here would prejudice my sister's health, I added my entreaties to hers that Gianni would either go on or return. The driver resisted a good while, but at last he resumed his seat, saying to me apart, "I don't know that there's a pin to choose between going on and going back: tis all a lottery: but remember, tis no fault of mine. I am almost sure we are either too early or too late; but if you will go you must."

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Thus saying, he whipped his horses with such vigour and perseverance, that in due time they absolutely attained to a sort of gallop; a pace that, from the imperfect way in which they executed it, I thought they must have renounced for years.

We had hardly proceeded half an hour on our way, when before, and behind, and around us, stern voices began to shout, "Ferma! ferma! (stop!)" and various persons appeared suddenly to people the solitude: some sprang from the road-side where they had been lying, others bounded from the fields or plantations that bordered it, and all of them appeared armed and prepared for violence. The driver stopped, my sister shrieked and crouched down in the carriage, which in an instant was surrounded by many men, who ut tered vociferously the usual bandit's command, "Faccia a terra, though they had very little the looks of robbers, but muffled up in their large dark cloaks, and concealing their faces as much as was

*Literary "face to earth." It implies that the traveller must throw himself prone on the ground; a position which makes it impossible for him to observe what is passing.

possible, they exhibited to view nothing differing from the ordinary appearance of respectable country people, except the arma bianca, or stiletto, which each bore naked in his hand, and which as they moved hastily about, glittered in the cold moonlight. Resistance was out of the question: I assisted Chiarina to alight, and, mentioning her ill health, I entreated they would use her gently, offering to be myself security, by remaining in their hands, for any recompence they might demand in return for their indulgence.

"We are not robbers," answered a tall stern man, whose hat, having fallen off in his hurried advance, had left him open to observation. "Faccia a terra this instant, or you die: we want not money, but we want security." Then, turning to his companions, among whom he seemed to hold the rank of leader, he added, “A sick girl and a silly boy must not endanger the hand of Justice when it is guiding the steps of death to the betrayers of a country." He again turned to us, and exclaimed vehemently, "Down, I say for a time, or forever, which you please." As he spoke I was sud. denly seized behind, forced to the ground, and a cloak being thrown over my head, I was searched, my pistols were taken away, and my hands tied.

In this situation, though I could see nothing, I heard very well every thing that was said; indeed no precautions were taken to prevent this; it seemed as though they had made up their minds to destroy us if we stood in their way, and they therefore thought concealment superfluous.

Gianni now underwent an interrogatory, from which I learned that though he knew some desperate business was in hand, and was to be despatched that night on the road between Nocera de Pagani and Salerno, he did not know what it was, nor where was the scene of action, and moreover, he was altogether unacquainted with our assailants. He had a relative, it seemed, who was one of their number, and on the very Sunday following he was to marry the daughter of this relation, who therefore, out of respect for his safety, knowing that he often accompanied travellers from Nocera to Salerno, had given him sundry intelligible hints on this matter, and had besides hazarded an opinion that it would or might be advantageous to his health to stay at home that night. He ventured to conjecture also that the tongue which should repeat these hints, or talk about this sug gestion, might perhaps never talk about anything else in the world; and Gianni further added, that all this conversation passed under the seal and bond of an oath.

This communication was received with so little benignity by his hearers, or rather with such unequivocal demonstrations of unamiable intentions, that Gianni, raising his voice, thought fit to add, "Gentlemen, I could not declare the real reason of my desire to stay this evening at home, and therefore I was forced to come; but I ought, perhaps, to observe that before I set out, as I love to travel with a light conscience, I just told my father (under oath of course,) all that I knew myself; and my firm opinion is, that if any thing goes wrong with me or my fare, it will be the cause of a great deal of trouble to you all I really think so. Now, I hope, gentlemen, you'll take this into consideration."

And they did take it into deliberation, Chiarina and I

consideration; and after some secret were placed again in the carriage,

Gianni was sent forward and guarded by two men.

One of the stran.

gers leading the horses, we set out, at a moderate pace, on the descent to Salerno.

We had gone on again about half an hour, when my attention was drawn away from the care and consolation I was bestowing upon my sister by a broad and lurid glare that shot up almost instantaneously from behind a dark mass of trees and rocks which lay on the left of the road, about a quarter of a mile distant. Our conductors stopped, and, huddling together, cried, "Look! look!—they are at it! The pernicious old villain will never more preach, or pray or betray now!" "Are they all to be killed ?" inquired one.

"What!

"They are all to be executed,” (giustiziati) said the tall, stern man, stopping and turning round to face the last speaker. would you keep up the breed? For myself, I am not curious in such matters. Giambattista has been a traitor to the generous band that stood forward as the forlorn hope of this degraded nation. His nephews and nieces, as courtesy calls them, his sons and daughters, as is probably the truer reading-may or may not have shared his guilt-I trust they have, that there may be no regret for what we do ;-but at any rate they must share his fate, that they may not live to be our accusers. We have the means of striking one villain that has done this, and the punishment will fall on all. My sword should pass through the hearts of twenty innocent creatures to reach such an enormous offender, and let loose such an avenging fear." He paused and no one replied. "Come," resumed he, "let us push on there is no one here, I presume, who would wish to be absent when the victim is bound to the altar."

We advanced rapidly after this, and the light increased fast, while an indistinct noise of distant shouts and shrieks began to be heard. It increased as we proceeded, and soon we even heard voices in loud debate, while flames became distinctly visible through openings in the trees. In a short time we reached the strange and fearful

scene.

A narrow glen, opening on the left among piles of shattered rocks, and rising with a gentle acclivity to the dim mountains behind, presented a sequestered spot of small extent, apparently only a few acres of ground, but so well cultivated, that it would have appeared a garden, had not olives and vines, fig-trees and pomegranates, with a rich and various undergrowth of many kinds of pulse and vegetables, denoted that it was a small farm, cultivated according to the usual fashion of the country.

The rocks that constituted the foreground on the right and left were rude and craggy, tapestried in some places with weeds which descended almost from top to base, and with their abundant leaves and many-coloured flowerets adorned the strength to which they clung for support. At other places the rocks were bare, and looked out, still, and tawny, and rugged, amid the bright and moving foliage before them, Just where we halted, these masses were widely separated; but converging fast as they went farther back, they probably met at no great distance. The whole suggested the idea that some violence had in ancient times disrupted the hill, and that the space or bottom thus produced had been covered and enriched by alluvial soil washed down from the higher grounds, and detained