From Hence They Were Keeping A Look-Out, Like
So Many Vultures; Casting Their Eyes Into The Depths Of The
Valley
below us; communicating; with each other by signs, or holding discourse
in sounds, which might be mistaken by the
Wayfarer for the cries of
hawks and crows, or the bleating of the mountain flocks. After they had
reconnoitred the neighborhood, and finished their singular discourse,
they descended from their airy perch, and returned to their prisoners.
The captain posted three of them at three naked sides of the mountain,
while he remained to guard us with what appeared his most trusty
companion.
I had my book of sketches in my hand; he requested to see it, and after
having run his eye over it, expressed himself convinced of the truth of
my assertion, that I was a painter. I thought I saw a gleam of good
feeling dawning in him, and determined to avail myself of it. I knew
that the worst of men have their good points and their accessible
sides, if one would but study them carefully. Indeed, there is a
singular mixture in the character of the Italian robber. With reckless
ferocity, he often mingles traits of kindness and good humor. He is
often not radically bad, but driven to his course of life by some
unpremeditated crime, the effect of those sudden bursts of passion to
which the Italian temperament is prone. This has compelled him to take
to the mountains, or, as it is technically termed among them, "andare
in Campagna." He has become a robber by profession; but like a soldier,
when not in action, he can lay aside his weapon and his fierceness, and
become like other men.
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