a road--leading to it, there seemed no reason why a house of
entertainment--even the humblest--could be wanted in such a spot; and,
indeed, the lack of all comfort and accommodation bespoke how little
trade it drove. The 'Tana,' however, as it was called, had a brisk
business in the long dark nights of winter, since it was here that the
smugglers from the Tuscan frontier resorted, to dispose of their wares
to the up-country dealers; and bargains for many a thousand scudi went
on in that dreary old kitchen, while bands of armed contrabandieri
scoured the country. To keep off the Pope's carbineers--in case that
redoubtable corps could persuade themselves to adventure so
far--the Maremma fever, a malady that few ever eradicated from their
constitution, was the best protection the smugglers possessed; and the
Tana was thus a sanctuary as safe as the rocky islands that lay off St.
Stephano. A disputed question of boundary also added to the safety
of the spot, and continual litigation went on between the courts of
Florence and Rome as to which the territory belonged--contests the
scandal-mongering world implied might long since have been terminated,
had not the cardinal-secretary Manini been suspected of being in secret
league with the smugglers. The Tana was, therefore, a sort of refuge;
and more than one, gravely compromised by crime, had sought out that
humble hostel, as his last place of security. To the refugee from the
north of Italy it was easily available, lying only a few miles beyond
the Tuscan frontier, while it was no less open to those who gained any
port of the shore near St. Stephano.

In a wild and melancholy waste, with two dark and motionless lakes girt
in by low mountains, the Tana stood, the very ideal of desolation. The
strip of land on which it was built was little wider than a mere bridge,
between the lakes, and had evidently been selected as a position
capable of defence against the assault of a strong force, and two rude
breastworks of stone yet bore witness that a military eye had scanned
the place, and improved its advantages. Within, a stray loop-hole for
musketry still showed that defence had occupied the spirits of those who
held it, while a low, flat-bottomed boat, moored at a stake before the
door, provided for escape in the last extremity. The great curiosity
of the place, however, was a kind of large hall or chamber, where the
smugglers transacted business with their customers, and the walls