.

"It is easy to remember the name of that ship," said Ercole at last,
without glancing at his companion.

"And the master was Antonino Maresca of Vico," said Padre Francesco.

"But the truth is that it is none of our business," said Ercole.

"The captain was mistaken," said Padre Francesco.

"He saw trees moving in the wind," said Ercole.

Then they looked at each other and nodded.

"Perhaps the Professor was mistaken about the girl, and the silk dress
and the gold earrings," suggested Padre Francesco, turning his eyes
away.

"He was certainly mistaken," asserted Ercole, watching him closely. "And
moreover it is none of our business."

"None whatever."

They talked of other things, making remarks at longer and longer
intervals, till the sun sank near the oily sea, and Ercole took his
departure, much wiser in regard to Marcello's disappearance than when he
had come. He followed the long beach for an hour till he came to the gap
in the bank. There he stopped, and proceeded to examine the place
carefully, going well inside it, and then turning to ascertain exactly
where Marcello must have been when he was struck, since at that moment
he must have been distinctly visible from the brigantine. The gap was so
narrow that it was not hard to fix upon the spot where the deed had been
done, especially as the captain had seen Marcello dragged quickly away
towards the bushes. Every word of the sailor's story was stamped with
truth; and so it came about that when Corbario believed himself at last
quite safe, a man in his own pay suddenly discovered the whole truth
about the attempted crime, even to the name of the principal witness.

It was only in the quail season, when there were poachers about, during
April, May, and early June, that Ercole lived in his straw hut, a little
way from the cottage. He spent the rest of the year in a small stone
house that stood on a knoll in sight of Ardea, high enough to be
tolerably safe from the deadly Campagna fever. Every other day an old
woman from the village brought him a copper conca full of water; once a
month she came and washed for him. When he needed supplies he went to
Ardea for them himself. His dwelling was of elementary simplicity,
consisting of two rooms, one above the other, with grated windows and
heavy shutters. In the lower one he cooked and ate, in the upper chamber
he slept and kept his few belongings, which included a plentiful supply
of ammunition, his Sunday c