The Gadfly Part 48

"I c-cong-gratulate your Eminence."

Five days later Martini reached Forli. He had received from Gemma by post a bundle of printed circulars, the signal agreed upon in case of his being needed in any special emergency; and, remembering the conversation on the terrace, he guessed the truth at once. All through the journey he kept repeating to himself that there was no reason for supposing anything to have happened to the Gadfly, and that it was absurd to attach any importance to the childish superst.i.tions of so nervous and fanciful a person; but the more he reasoned with himself against the idea, the more firmly did it take possession of his mind.

"I have guessed what it is: Rivarez is taken, of course?" he said, as he came into Gemma's room.

"He was arrested last Thursday, at Brisigh.e.l.la. He defended himself desperately and wounded the captain of the squadron and a spy."

"Armed resistance; that's bad!"

"It makes no difference; he was too deeply compromised already for a pistol-shot more or less to affect his position much."

"What do you think they are going to do with him?"

She grew a shade paler even than before.

"I think," she said; "that we must not wait to find out what they mean to do."

"You think we shall be able to effect a rescue?"

"We MUST."

He turned away and began to whistle, with his hands behind his back.

Gemma let him think undisturbed. She was sitting still, leaning her head against the back of the chair, and looking out into vague distance with a fixed and tragic absorption. When her face wore that expression, it had a look of Durer's "Melancolia."

"Have you seen him?" Martini asked, stopping for a moment in his tramp.

"No; he was to have met me here the next morning."

"Yes, I remember. Where is he?"

"In the fortress; very strictly guarded, and, they say, in chains."

He made a gesture of indifference.

"Oh, that's no matter; a good file will get rid of any number of chains.

If only he isn't wounded----"

"He seems to have been slightly hurt, but exactly how much we don't know. I think you had better hear the account of it from Michele himself; he was present at the arrest."

"How does he come not to have been taken too? Did he run away and leave Rivarez in the lurch?"

"It's not his fault; he fought as long as anybody did, and followed the directions given him to the letter. For that matter, so did they all.

The only person who seems to have forgotten, or somehow made a mistake at the last minute, is Rivarez himself. There's something inexplicable about it altogether. Wait a moment; I will call Michele."

She went out of the room, and presently came back with Michele and a broad-shouldered mountaineer.

"This is Marco," she said. "You have heard of him; he is one of the smugglers. He has just got here, and perhaps will be able to tell us more. Michele, this is Cesare Martini, that I spoke to you about. Will you tell him what happened, as far as you saw it?"

Michele gave a short account of the skirmish with the squadron.

"I can't understand how it happened," he concluded. "Not one of us would have left him if we had thought he would be taken; but his directions were quite precise, and it never occurred to us, when he threw down his cap, that he would wait to let them surround him. He was close beside the roan--I saw him cut the tether--and I handed him a loaded pistol myself before I mounted. The only thing I can suppose is that he missed his footing,--being lame,--in trying to mount. But even then, he could have fired."

"No, it wasn't that," Marcone interposed. "He didn't attempt to mount.

I was the last one to go, because my mare shied at the firing; and I looked round to see whether he was safe. He would have got off clear if it hadn't been for the Cardinal."

"Ah!" Gemma exclaimed softly; and Martini repeated in amazement: "The Cardinal?"

"Yes; he threw himself in front of the pistol--confound him! I suppose Rivarez must have been startled, for he dropped his pistol-hand and put the other one up like this"--laying the back of his left wrist across his eyes--"and of course they all rushed on him."

"I can't make that out," said Michele. "It's not like Rivarez to lose his head at a crisis."

"Probably he lowered his pistol for fear of killing an unarmed man,"

Martini put in. Michele shrugged his shoulders.

"Unarmed men shouldn't poke their noses into the middle of a fight.

War is war. If Rivarez had put a bullet into His Eminence, instead of letting himself be caught like a tame rabbit, there'd be one honest man the more and one priest the less."

He turned away, biting his moustache. His anger was very near to breaking down in tears.

"Anyway," said Martini, "the thing's done, and there's no use wasting time in discussing how it happened. The question now is how we're to arrange an escape for him. I suppose you're all willing to risk it?"

Michele did not even condescend to answer the superfluous question, and the smuggler only remarked with a little laugh: "I'd shoot my own brother, if he weren't willing."

"Very well, then---- First thing; have you got a plan of the fortress?"

Gemma unlocked a drawer and took out several sheets of paper.

"I have made out all the plans. Here is the ground floor of the fortress; here are the upper and lower stories of the towers, and here the plan of the ramparts. These are the roads leading to the valley, and here are the paths and hiding-places in the mountains, and the underground pa.s.sages."

"Do you know which of the towers he is in?"

"The east one, in the round room with the grated window. I have marked it on the plan."

"How did you get your information?"

"From a man nicknamed 'The Cricket,' a soldier of the guard. He is cousin to one of our men--Gino."

"You have been quick about it."

"There's no time to lose. Gino went into Brisigh.e.l.la at once; and some of the plans we already had. That list of hiding-places was made by Rivarez himself; you can see by the handwriting."

"What sort of men are the soldiers of the guard?"

"That we have not been able to find out yet; the Cricket has only just come to the place, and knows nothing about the other men."

"We must find out from Gino what the Cricket himself is like. Is anything known of the government's intentions? Is Rivarez likely to be tried in Brisigh.e.l.la or taken in to Ravenna?"