to distinguish any other sound.

She lay down flat on the wet ground, and crawled forward for a few
feet, then listened again. At first she heard only the rain and the
wind, but after a little wait there was a muffled bang as if a bomb had
exploded deep down in the earth, and the ground beneath her trembled.

Lucia sprang to her feet and ran terrified back to the cave. It was
fortunate that she was as sure-footed as her goats, for the way was
steep and slippery, and she did not pause to take care.

Over in the cave, with her hand on Beppi's curly head, she sat down to
think. Her mind was not capable of arriving at any logical
explanation. Two thoughts stood out clearly and beyond doubt. First,
the enemy was doing something of which the Italians were unaware, and
second, the Italians must be warned before it was too late. That she
must warn them she realized at once, but the way was not easy to
determine.

The mountains were tricky. From one side they might look deserted, and
yet a whole army could be in hiding just over the other side. The
giant peaks formed formidable and wellnigh impassable barriers between
one range and the next. Lucia had seen the troops disappear that
morning, as if the great rocks had opened and devoured them, and she
knew that at this moment they might be within a half a mile of her, but
where to begin to find them she did not know.

The close proximity of the Austrians frightened her, and she was afraid
to go off at random, or even to call. Throughout the night she tried
to think and plan as she sat up with her back against the rock
listening for the rat, tat, tat, which began again after she returned
to the cave, and continued at regular intervals.

Before dawn the rain stopped and the wind blew the clouds away. At the
first streak of light Lucia stole softly away from the sleeping Beppi
and Garibaldi, and crept down the tiny path to the plateau below. Once
there she was on familiar ground and even in the pale light she could
tell her way.

During the night she had decided to go to the rock where she took her
milk in the morning, surely the mysterious hand that left the pennies
for her would be there, and she was determined, to wait for him.

She reached the spot without encountering any difficulties, and sat
down to wait. The sun rose east of Cellino, and she watched it as it
climbed over the hill and lighted the windows of the church with its
yellow low rays.

All the