If Lucia had known, she would have realized that her Italian soldier
was in some way responsible for their absence, and she would have been
delighted. As it was, she dismissed the Captain with a shrug and
turned her attention to the few soldiers who remained. They were a
little distance from her, and most of them had their backs to her.

Lucia determined to try to slip out unnoticed. She waited until they
were all talking at once. By their angry gestures they appeared to be
discussing something of great importance; none of them even glanced
towards the shed.

Lucia pushed open the door very gently and waited. No one noticed it,
then she laid down flat and crawled out into the mud; it was slow work,
but in the end it proved the best way, for she reached the tree and
Garibaldi without being discovered. The shed hid her from sight. She
hurriedly untied the rope and freed the goat. It had never entered her
mind to escape and leave her behind.

Garibaldi, free once more, ran down the steep hill her hoofs making no
more than a soft, pad, pad noise in the mud. Lucia dropped to the
ground again and crawled slowly after her. Below her, almost at the
river's edge, she could see the two soldiers slipping and stumbling
along.

She wriggled on in the mud until she was well below the crest of the
hill, then she got up and began to run. She jumped from one rock to
the next, always keeping the two men in sight, but keeping under cover
herself. The men kept to the bank of the river and moved forward
cautiously. Lucia kept abreast of them, but stayed high up above their
heads.