The Project Gutenberg EBook of Among the Brigands, by James de Mille

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Title: Among the Brigands

Author: James de Mille

Release Date: July 3, 2009 [EBook #29297]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMONG THE BRIGANDS ***

Produced by Gardner Buchanan

Among the Brigands

By Prof. James de Mille

H. M. Caldwell Company
Publishers
New York and Boston

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by Lee and Shepard in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

Among the Brigands

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Stranger in a strange Land.—A Citadel of Trunks.—Besieged.—Retreat in good Order.—A most tremendous Uproar.—Kicks! Thumps!—Smash of Chairs!—Crash of Tables!—A general Row!—The Cry for Help!—The Voice of David!—The Revelation of the Darkness!—The fiery Eyes!—The Unseen!—The Revelation of the Mystery.—A general Flight.

CHAPTER II.

How in the World did it get there?—A joyous Ride.—Hark! Hark! The Dogs-do bark! Beggars come to Town; some in Rags, some in Tags, and some in a tattered Gown!—A pleasant Meditation on a classic Past very rudely, unexpectedly, tad even savagely interrupted, and likely to terminate in a Tragedy!—Perilous Position of David and Clive.

CHAPTER III.

Out into the Country.—The Drive.—The glorious Land.—Sorrento and eternal Summer.—The Cave of Polyphemus.—The Cathedral—The mysterious Image.—What is it?—David Relic-hunting.—A Catastrophe.—Chased by a Virago.—The Town roused.—Besieged.—A desperate Onset—Flight—Last of the Virago.

CHAPTER IV.

Salerno and the sulky Driver.—Paestum and its Temples.—A great Sensation.—An unpleasant Predicament—Is the Driver a Traitor?—Is he in League—with Bandits?—Arguments about the Situation, and what each thought about it.

CHAPTER V.

They discuss the Situation.—They prepare to foot it—A toilsome
Walk, and a happy Discovery.—The Language of Signs once more.—The
Mountain Cavalcade.—Bob's Ambition.—Its results.—Bob
vanishes.—Consternation of the Donkey Boy.—Consternation of the
Cavalcade.—"E Perduto!".

CHAPTER VI.

Flight of Both—Difference between a tame Donkey and a wild
Ass.—Carried off to the Mountains.—The headlong Course.—The
Mountain Pass.—The Journey's End.—Ill-omened Place.—Confounded
by a new Terror.—The Brigands.

CHAPTER VII.

The Lurking-place of the Brigands.—The captive Boy.—The hideous
Household.—The horrible old Hag.—The slattern Woman.—The dirty
Children.—The old Crone and the evil Eye.—Despondency of Bob.
—Is Escape possible?—Night.—Imprisoned.—The Bed of Straw.
—Outlook into the Night from the Prison Windows.

CHAPTER VIII.

The worn-out Captive.—Light Slumbers.—Fearful Wakening.—The stealthy Step.—The overmastering Horror.—The lone Boy confronted by his Enemy.—The hungry Eyes.—Is it real, or a Nightmare?—The supreme Moment.

CHAPTER IX.

The Cavalcade in Pursuit—Hopes and Fears.—Theories about the lost
Boy.—A new Turn to Affairs.—Explanations.—On to
Salerno.—Inquiries.—Baffled.—Fresh Consternation and
Despondency.—The last Hope.

CHAPTER X.

The captive Boy and his grisly Visitant—The Hand on his
Head.-Denouement.—The Brigand Family.—The old Crone.—The Robber
Wife.—The Brigand Children.—A Revolution of Feeling.—The main
Road.—The Carriage.—In Search of Bob.

CHAPTER XI.

The Return.—The tender Adieus.—Back to Salerno.—On to Castellamare.—A pleasant Scene.—An unpleasant Discovery.—David among the Missing.—Woes of Uncle Moses.—Deliberations over the Situation.—Various Theories.—The Vengeance of the Enemy.—Back to Sorrento in Search of the lost One.

CHAPTER XII.

The Waking of David.—A glorious Scene.—A Temptation.—David embarks upon the wide, wide Sea.—Youth at the Prow and Pleasure at the Helm.—A daring Navigator.—A baffled and confounded Navigator.—Lost! Lost! Lost!—Despair of David.—At the Mercy of Wind and Sea.—The Isle of the Brigands.—The Brigand Chief.

CHAPTER XIII.

David captured.—The big, bluff, burly, brusque, bearded, broad-shouldered, beetle-browed Bully of a Brigand.—A terrific Inquisition.—David's Plea for Mercy.—The hard-hearted Captor and the trembling Captive.—A direful Threat—David carried off helpless and despairing.—The Robber's Hold.

CHAPTER XIV.

On the Way to Sorrento again.—A mournful Ride.—A despairing
Search.—A fearful Discovery.—The old Virago again.—In a
Trap.—Sorrento aroused.—Besieged.—All lost—A raging Crowd.—The
howling Hag.—Harried Consultation.—The last forlorn Hope.—Disguise,
Flight, and Concealment.

CHAPTER XV.

In the Robber's Hold.—The Brigand's Bride.—Sudden, amazing, overwhelming, bewildering, tremendous, astounding, overpowering, and crashing Discovery.—The Situation.—Everybody confounded.—The Crowd at Sorrento.—The Landlord's Prayers.—The Virago calls for Vengeance.

CHAPTER XVI.

More Troubles for poor David.—Onset of four Women.—Seized by an old Crone and three Peasant Girls.—Fresh Horror of David.—A new Uproar in the Yard of the Inn.—Uncle Moses bent double.

CHAPTER XVII.

Vesuvius.—Ponies and Sticks.—Sand and Lava.—The rocky Steps.—The rolling, wrathful, Smoke-clouds.—The Volcano warns them off.—The lost Boy.—A fearful Search.—A desperate Effort.—The sulphurous Vapors.—Over die sliding Sands.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Pompeii, the City of the Dead.—The Monuments of the Past.—Temples,
Towers, and Palaces.—Tombs and Monuments.—Theatres and
Amphitheatres.—Streets and Squares.

CHAPTER XIX.

Lofty classical Enthusiasm of David, and painful Lack of Feeling on the Part of Frank.—David, red-hot with the Flow of the Past, is suddenly confronted with the Present.—The Present dashes cold Water upon his glowing Enthusiasm.—The Gates.—Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus.—The Culprits.

CHAPTER XX.

The Glories of Naples.—The Museum.—The Curiosities.—How they
unroll the charred Manuscripts exhumed from Herculaneum and
Pompeii.—On to Rome.—Capua.—The Tomb of Cicero.—Terracina.
—The Pontine Marshes.—The Appii Forum.

CHAPTER XXI.

The Pontine Marshes.—A Change comes over the Party.—The foul Exhalations.—The Sleep of