ident person, I see."

"Why, you see, no one knows what may happen. Perhaps some of these days
I may be entrapped, like poor Peppino and may be very glad to have some
little nibbling mouse to gnaw the meshes of my net, and so help me out
of prison."

"Briefly, what did you glean?"

"That two executions of considerable interest will take place the
day after to-morrow at two o'clock, as is customary at Rome at the
commencement of all great festivals. One of the culprits will be
mazzolato; [*] he is an atrocious villain, who murdered the priest who
brought him up, and deserves not the smallest pity. The other sufferer
is sentenced to be decapitato; [**] and he, your excellency, is poor
Peppino."

* Knocked on the head.

** Beheaded.

"The fact is, that you have inspired not only the pontifical government,
but also the neighboring states, with such extreme fear, that they are
glad of all opportunity of making an example."

"But Peppino did not even belong to my band: he was merely a poor
shepherd, whose only crime consisted in furnishing us with provisions."

"Which makes him your accomplice to all intents and purposes. But mark
the distinction with which he is treated; instead of being knocked on
the head as you would be if once they caught hold of you, he is simply
sentenced to be guillotined, by which means, too, the amusements of
the day are diversified, and there is a spectacle to please every
spectator."

"Without reckoning the wholly unexpected one I am preparing to surprise
them with."

"My good friend," said the man in the cloak, "excuse me for saying that
you seem to me precisely in the mood to commit some wild or extravagant
act."

"Perhaps I am; but one thing I have resolved on, and that is, to stop at
nothing to restore a poor devil to liberty, who has got into this scrape
solely from having served me. I should hate and despise myself as a
coward did I desert the brave fellow in his present extremity."

"And what do you mean to do?"

"To surround the scaffold with twenty of my best men, who, at a signal
from me, will rush forward directly Peppino is brought for execution,
and, by the assistance of their stilettos, drive back the guard, and
carry off the prisoner."

"That seems to me as hazardous as uncertain, and convinces me that my
scheme is far better than yours."

"And what is your excellency's project?"

"Just this. I will so advantageously bestow 2,000 piastres, that the
p