think it probable that he, too, would some day break his bonds
and run away. He did not fix upon any time. He had not got as far as
this. But circumstances, as we shall find in our next chapter, hastened
his determination, and this, though he knew it not, was the last night
he would sleep in the house of the padrone.

CHAPTER XII

GIACOMO'S PRESENTIMENTS

Phil woke up the next morning feeling lame and sore. His back bore
traces of the flogging he had received the night before. As his eyes
opened, they rested upon twenty boys lying about him, and also upon the
dark, unsightly walls of the shabby room, and the prospect before him
served to depress even his hopeful temperament. But he was not permitted
to meditate long. Pietro opened the door, and called out in harsh tones:
"Get up, all of you, or the padrone will be here with his stick!"

The invitation was heard and obeyed. The boys got up, yawning and
rubbing their eyes, having a wholesome dread of their tyrant and his
stick, which no tenderness of heart ever made him reluctant to use.
Their toilet did not require long to make. The padrone was quite
indifferent whether they were clean or not, and offered them no
facilities for washing.

When they were dressed they were supplied with a frugal breakfast--a
piece of bread and cheese each; their instruments were given them, and
they were started off for a long day of toil.

Phil looked around for Giacomo, who had slept in a different room, but
he was not to be seen.

"Is Giacomo sick this morning, Pietro?" he asked of the padrone's
nephew.

"He pretends to be sick, little drone!" said Pietro, unfeelingly. "If I
were the padrone, I would let him taste the stick again."

Phil felt that he would like to see the brutal speaker suffering the
punishment he wanted inflicted on him; but he knew Pietro's power and
malice too well to give utterance to the wish. A longing came to him to
see Giacomo before he went out. He might have had a secret presentiment
of what was coming.

"Signor Pietro," he said, "may I see Giacomo before I go out?"

This request would have been refused without doubt, but that Pietro felt
flattered at being addressed as signor, to which his years did not yet
entitle him. Phil knew this, and therefore used the title.

"What do you want to see him for?" he asked, suspiciously.

"I want to ask him how he feels."

"Yes, you can go in. Tell him he must get up to-morrow. The padrone will
not let