THE SURPRISE ATTACK

Without turning his head, the beggar picked up a stone and tossed it
into the river. He repeated this twice.

Lucia watched, fascinated. The soldiers left their hiding-place and
came down to the road. The beggar took something out of the pocket of
his coat, handed it to one of the soldiers, and shuffled off in the
opposite direction.

Lucia waited to see what the soldiers would do. She expected them to
return, but instead they waited until the beggar was out of sight, and
then hurried across the foot-bridge and plunged hurriedly into the
mountains opposite.

Lucia caught sight of their shining helmets every now and then as they
climbed higher and higher, and finally disappeared. She was undecided
what to do, but after a little hesitation she determined to follow the
beggar. Now that the Austrians were out of sight there was no need for
her to avoid the open path, and she hurried to it and ran quickly in
the direction that the man had taken. She did not know where she was,
or how far she would have to go before she reached Cellino. She had
seen nothing of the town from the mountains, and she guessed that it
was much farther away than she had at first supposed.

She walked on as fast as she could, keeping a sharp lookout for the
beggar, but he had apparently disappeared, for she could not find him
or any trace of him.

It was late in the afternoon when she reached a part of the river that