I Could Tell You A
Miserable Story, But Not Now - Another Time." - He Relapsed Into His
Former Position, And Sat With His Head Between His Hands, Muttering To
Himself In Broken Ejaculations, And What Appeared At Times To Be Curses
And Maledictions.
I saw he was not in a mood to be disturbed, so I left
him to himself.
In a little time the exhaustion of his feelings, and
probably the fatigues he had undergone in this expedition, began to
produce drowsiness. He struggled with it for a time, but the warmth and
sultriness of mid-day made it irresistible, and he at length stretched
himself upon the herbage and fell asleep.
I now beheld a chance of escape within my reach. My guard lay before me
at my mercy. His vigorous limbs relaxed by sleep; his bosom open for
the blow; his carbine slipped from his nerveless grasp, and lying by
his side; his stiletto half out of the pocket in which it was usually
carried. But two of his comrades were in sight, and those at a
considerable distance, on the edge of the mountain; their backs turned
to us, and their attention occupied in keeping a look-out upon the
plain. Through a strip of intervening forest, and at the foot of a
steep descent, I beheld the village of Rocca Priori. To have secured
the carbine of the sleeping brigand, to have seized upon his poniard
and have plunged it in his heart, would have been the work of an
instant.
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