guns was blotted out by the awful ringing in her ears. Then came
oblivion.

When she next realized anything, she was conscious of some one bending
over her and holding a water bottle to her lips. She drank gratefully
and opened her eyes. The Italian soldier was beside her, and another
man was lying on the ground near her.

"Give me something to eat," she said, trying to sit up, "or I will go
away again." Going away was the only way she knew of, to express the
sensation of fainting.

The Italian took something out of his knapsack and gave it to her.
Lucia ate ravenously, and the queer feeling at the pit of her stomach
disappeared.

"How did you escape?" he asked.

The question brought back a sudden wave of memory, and Lucia jumped up
excitedly.

"By the river road--two Austrians and a beggar--they met by the
foot-bridge, over there where the noise comes from; I saw them." She
recalled the facts jerkily.

"Go on!" the Italian's eyes flashed.

"The beggar gave the Austrians a paper, and they left with it and
climbed up into the mountains across the river. I could not follow
without being seen, and when I tried to find the beggar he had