ans had scented the ruse, for they
scarcely attempted to conceal themselves.

To show his skill, one of them--Forsetta, Dolores declared--shot down
a sea-gull skimming along the river. Mazzani accepted the challenge.
An aeroplane, humming in their direction and flying lower than most,
seemed suddenly to drop from the clouds and silently glided across
the river, over the blocks of marble. When it came level, Mazzani
threw up his rifle, slowly took aim and fired. The pilot was hit, bore
downwards, heeled over on either side alternately, until he seemed
about to capsize, and passed on, disappearing in a zig-zag flight like
that of a wounded bird.

And suddenly, Simon having shown his head, two bullets fired by the
two Indians ricochetted from the nearest stone surface, detaching a
few splinters.

"Oh, please don't be so imprudent!" Dolores implored.

A drop of blood trickled down his forehead. She staunched it gently
with her handkerchief and murmured:

"You see, Simon, those men will get the better of us. And you still
refuse to leave me? You risk your life, though nothing can affect the
issue?"

He pushed her away from him:

"My life is not at stake. . . . Nor yours either. . . . This handful
of wretches will never get at us."

He was mistaken. Some of the vagabonds were within eighty yards of
them. They could hear them talking together; and the men's hard faces,
covered with grey stubble, shot up from behind their bucklers like the
head of a Jack-in-the-box.

Forsetta was shouting his orders:

"Forward! . . . There's no danger! . . . They've no ammunition! . . .
Forward, I tell you! The Frenchman's pockets are stuffed with notes!"

The seven tramps ran forward as one man. Simon levelled his revolver
briskly and fired. They stopped. No one was hit. Forsetta was
triumphant:

"They're done for! . . . Nothing but short-range Browning bullets!
. . . At them!"

He himself, protecting his body with a piece of sheet-iron, ran up at
full speed. Mazzani and the tramps formed up in a circle at thirty or
forty yards.

"Ready!" bellowed Forsetta. "Out with your knives!"

Dolores remarked to Simon that they must not remain in their
observation-post, since most of their enemies would be able to reach
the foot of the fortress unseen and slip between the marble blocks.
They slid through a gap which formed a chimney from the top to the
ground.

"There they are! There they are!" said Dolores. "Fire now! . . . Look,