I Caught Him Up, And, Doubting Much Whether He Would
Understand A Word, I Said To Him Repeatedly -
_'La granda via?
La via a Piacenza?'_
He shook his head as though to indicate that this filthy lane was not
the road. Just as I had despaired of learning anything, he pointed
with his arm away to the right, perpendicularly to the road we were
on, and nodded. He moved his hand up and down. I had been going north!
On getting this sign I did not wait for a cross road, but jumped the
little ditch and pushed through long grass, across further ditches,
along the side of patches of growing corn, heedless of the huge weight
on my boots and of the oozing ground, till I saw against the rainy sky
a line of telegraph poles. For the first time since they were made the
sight of them gave a man joy. There was a long stagnant pond full of
reeds between me and the railroad; but, as I outflanked it, I came
upon a road that crossed the railway at a level and led me into the
great Piacenzan way. Almost immediately appeared a village. It was a
hole called Secugnano, and there I entered a house where a bush
hanging above the door promised entertainment, and an old hobbling
woman gave me food and drink and a bed. The night had fallen, and upon
the roof above me I could hear the steady rain.
The next morning - Heaven preserve the world from evil!
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