shing her meal in the dim light of dawn,
and the second guide was packing their few belongings, Pietro regaled
her with a legend of the Monte del Diavolo, which overlooks Sondrio
and the lovely valley of the Adda.

"Once upon a time, _signora_, they used to grow fine grapes there," he
said, "and the wine was always sent to Rome for the special use of the
Pope and his cardinals. That made the people proud, and the devil took
possession of them, which greatly grieved a pious hermit who dwelt in
a cell in the little Val Malgina, by the side of a torrent that flows
into the Adda. So one day he asked the good Lord to permit the devil
to visit him; but when Satan appeared the saint laughed at him. 'You!'
he cried. 'Who sent for you? You are not the Prince of the Infernal
Regions?'--'Am I not?' said the stranger, with a truly fiendish grin.
'Just try my powers, and see what will happen!'--'Very well,' said the
saint, 'produce me twenty barrels of better wine than can be grown in
Sondrio.' So old Barbariccia stamped his hoof, and lo! there were the
twenty barrels, while the mere scent of them nearly made the saint
break a vow that he would never again taste fermented wine. But he
held fast, and said, 'Now, drink the lot.'--'Oh, nonsense!' roared the
devil. 'Pooh!' said the hermit, 'you're not much of a devil if you
can't do in a moment what the College of Cardinals can do in a week.'
That annoyed Satan, and he put away barrel after barrel, until the
saint began to feel very uneasy. But the last barrel finished him, and
down he went like a log, whereupon the holy man put him into one of
his own tubs and sent him to Rome to be dealt with properly. There
was a tremendous row, it is said, when the cask was opened. In the
confusion, Satan escaped; but in revenge for the trick that had been
played on him, he put a blight on the vines of the Adda, and from that
day to this never a liter of decent wine came out of Sondrio."

"I guess if that occurred anywhere in Italy nowadays, they'd lynch the
hermit," said a voice in English outside.

Helen screamed, and the two Italians were startled. No one was
expected at the hut at that hour. Its earliest visitors should come
from the inner range, after a long tramp from Italy or Pontresina.

"Sorry if I scared you," said Spencer, his tall figure suddenly
darkening the doorway; "but I didn't like to interrupt the story."

Helen sprang to her feet. Her cheeks, blanched for a few seconds,
beca