"Roderigo Vicello!" she exclaimed, when she looked up at him.

Roderigo swayed and would have fallen if she had not supported him.

"I can not go," he said weakly. "I am too tired, and I want to go. I
have watched her out of sight, but I am too tired to follow."

Lucia looked at him intently. It seemed to her impossible that a man,
and a soldier, could bother to think of a girl at such a time. She
took his arm firmly and shook him.

"Do you know how to blow up a bridge that is mined?" she demanded
excitedly.

"Yes, pull out the pin," Roderigo replied, "if it is a time fuse," he
spoke slowly and painstakingly.

"Pin?" Lucia exclaimed impatiently, "I don't understand, you will have
to come. Listen, the Austrians are just a little way off across the
river, they must not cross the bridge."

Roderigo was alert at once. The light came back into his eyes and his
body stiffened.

"What are you saying?" he demanded. "Do you mean, they are coming from
that side?"

"Yes," Lucia exclaimed, "there is no time to spare; hurry, I will help
you."