dventures that Albert de Morcerf had related when it was intended that
he should marry Mademoiselle Eugenie. "They are robbers, perhaps," he
muttered. Just then the carriage rolled on something harder than gravel
road. Danglars hazarded a look on both sides of the road, and perceived
monuments of a singular form, and his mind now recalled all the details
Morcerf had related, and comparing them with his own situation, he
felt sure that he must be on the Appian Way. On the left, in a sort of
valley, he perceived a circular excavation. It was Caracalla's circus.
On a word from the man who rode at the side of the carriage, it stopped.
At the same time the door was opened. "Scendi!" exclaimed a commanding
voice. Danglars instantly descended; although he did not yet speak
Italian, he understood it very well. More dead than alive, he looked
around him. Four men surrounded him, besides the postilion.

"Di qua," said one of the men, descending a little path leading out of
the Appian Way. Danglars followed his guide without opposition, and
had no occasion to turn around to see whether the three others were
following him. Still it appeared as though they were stationed at equal
distances from one another, like sentinels. After walking for about ten
minutes, during which Danglars did not exchange a single word with his
guide, he found himself between a hillock and a clump of high weeds;
three men, standing silent, formed a triangle, of which he was the
centre. He wished to speak, but his tongue refused to move. "Avanti!"
said the same sharp and imperative voice.

This time Danglars had double reason to understand, for if the word
and gesture had not explained the speaker's meaning, it was clearly
expressed by the man walking behind him, who pushed him so rudely that
he struck against the guide. This guide was our friend Peppino, who
dashed into the thicket of high weeds, through a path which none but
lizards or polecats could have imagined to be an open road. Peppino
stopped before a pit overhung by thick hedges; the pit, half open,
afforded a passage to the young man, who disappeared like the evil
spirits in the fairy tales. The voice and gesture of the man who
followed Danglars ordered him to do the same. There was no longer
any doubt, the bankrupt was in the hands of Roman banditti. Danglars
acquitted himself like a man placed between two dangerous positions,
and who is rendered brave by fear. Notwithstanding his large stomach,