"O, good citizens! O, dear citizens! Don"t destroy my furniture!
Don"t ruin me! There is a mistake. On my honor, the strangers are innocent."
At this the old virago howled out some insane maledictions, and urged the crowd on. Some on the outskirts yelled, and the old hag, whirling around in the midst of her tirade, found herself face to face with David. The terrified lad shrank back, and tried to hide himself; but the old woman recognized him at once, and with a howl sprang at him.
Ludlow saw the movement.
He put himself in front of David, and, seizing the old woman"s arm in a grasp like a vice, held her back, and asked her sternly, in Italian,--
"Accursed one! what do you mean?"
"O, citizens of Sorrento!" shrieked the hag. "O, pious citizens!
Help! This is the accursed boy! This is the sacrilegious one! the blasphemer! the insulter of the Bambino! the--"
"Silence!" roared Ludlow, in a voice of thunder. "Men of Sorrento, is this the way you treat strangers? Does this mad thing govern the city?"
"The boy, the boy! the blasphemer! the sacrilegious! the accursed!"
shrieked the hag. And at her yells some of the mob seemed inclined to respond. They were already ripe for mischief, and when the hag diverted their attention to David, they felt quite ready to take him in hand. So now a ring of dark faces was formed around Ludlow, and the yells of the hag directed them to seize David.
Ludlow pushed the hag from him, drew his revolver from his breast, and took two strides towards the house, which was close by, dragging David after him. Then he put his back against the wall, and holding the revolver in an apparently careless manner, with its muzzle turned towards the crowd, he once more opened his mouth.
"Men of Sorrento!" said he, "what foolery is this? The woman is mad. I have just come from Capri, with this boy. Many of you know me, for I am often here; and now, when I come, am I to be insulted by a madwoman? Are you--"
"Seize him! seize the boy! the boy! the blasphemer!" yelled the hag.
Ludlow placed his hand on David"s head, and looked with a smile on the crowd nearest.
"Does her madness usually take this form, gentlemen?" he added; "does she usually show this animosity to little boys and children?"
At this question, which was asked in an easy and natural manner, the crowd looked abashed.
They began to think that the woman was crazy. Those to whom Ludlow had spoken were the very men who had brought the beam but a few minutes before. They now edged slowly away, and began to think that they had done a very silly thing.
"What"s the trouble, signori?" asked Ludlow, in the same easy tone, of those who were nearest.
"Well, they say there are some people inside that desecrated the church--some boys--"
"What--boys?" said Ludlow, with a smile. "Who says so?"
The men shrugged their shoulders.
"She says so."
Ludlow thereupon shrugged his shoulders.
"Seize him! seize him! seize him!" yelled the hag, who all this time had kept up her insane outcry.
"Somebody had better seize _her_," said Ludlow, with a laugh. "Why, gentlemen, she will give your town a very bad name."
The crowd nearest had already undergone a revulsion of feeling.
The a.s.sault of the old woman on two harmless strangers seemed too wanton to be tolerated. Ludlow"s easy manner and calm language restored them fully to their senses, and the sight of his revolver effectually overawed the more excitable or reckless. They were also jealous of the good name of the town, and now began to be enraged with the old woman. A murmur pa.s.sed through them. Curses were freely lavished upon her, and the threats which but a short time ago had been directed against the landlord and his guests, were now hurled at her. The hag, however, in her fury, was quite unconscious of all this, and continued to yell as before, endeavoring to hound them on against David. But the crowd was now disgusted with her and her yells.
"Stop your diabolical yells!" cried an angry voice. "Go home, and stay home, or you"ll have a strait jacket put on you."
The hag stopped short, as though thunderstruck, and looked around with staring eyes. It was a young man who thus addressed her: he was grasping her arm and looking savagely at her. Evidently he was some relative, of whom she stood in awe, for with something like a gasp she seemed to shrink into herself, and then, gathering her clothes about her, slunk away through the crowd.
Ludlow had often been at Sorrento before, and saw some familiar faces among the people. These he accosted, and soon found out what the trouble was. Although some of these very men had been howling like maniacs a short time before, yet they now were as quiet, and gentle, and amiable as lambs. They sneered at the old hag, deplored.
the excitement, and a.s.sured him that no harm had been done.
Soon the crowd dispersed, and the landlord, who had been watching the scene in deep anxiety, came down, opened the doors, and gave Ludlow and David a most eager, exuberant, and enthusiastic welcome.
CHAPTER XVI.
_More Troubles for poor David.--Onset of four Women.--Seized by an old Crone and three Peasant Girls.--Fresh Horror of David.--A new Uproar in the Yard of the Inn.--Uncle Moses bent double._
Ludlow began to talk to the landlord about a conveyance to Castellamare, and David walked through the house into the yard.
David"s only desire now was to hurry on and join his friends as soon as possible. He had not the remotest idea that they were in Sorrento, and that the trouble had arisen about them, but fancied that they were in Castellamare, full of anxiety about him.
Sympathizing with their anxiety, he longed to go to them, so as to put an end to it; and seeing a carriage in the yard, he naturally walked in that direction. Reaching, the yard he noticed that the horses were in it, and that it was a barouche, like the one in which his party had been travelling. Not for one moment did he suppose that it was the same one, nor did he notice it very closely; but giving it a careless glance, he looked around to see those to whom it belonged.
As David went out into the yard, the driver had just gone into the barn to tell Uncle Moses and the boys that the trouble was over and the crowd was dispersing. Their joy may be imagined. They were just hastening from the barn to return to the hotel, and had just reached the barn door when David approached.
David was walking along towards the barn, looking around to see where the people were, when suddenly he heard a wild cry, and saw a figure rush straight towards him. It was a woman"s figure, and she appeared quite old. Like lightning, the thought flashed through him that this was his old tormentor, the hag; and with a gasp he started back, and was about to run. But the other was too quick for him, and David felt himself seized by his dreaded enemy. This dreaded enemy then behaved in a frantic way, hugging him and uttering inarticulate words. David struggled to get free from her, and throwing a frightened glance at her face, which was but partly visible, beneath a very shabby bonnet, he saw that she was quite old, and that tears were streaming down from her eyes. This frightened David all the more, for now he was sure that she was insane.
But now, to David"s horror, he found himself surrounded by three more women, in coa.r.s.e dresses and horribly shabby bonnets. They all made a simultaneous rush at him, seizing his hands and arms, and seemed about to tear him to pieces. In vain he struggled. He was helpless. A cold shudder pa.s.sed through him, and a thrill of horror tingled every nerve.
All this had been the work of an instant. So sudden had been the onset, and so overwhelmed was David with utter horror, that he could not even scream for help. But at last he got his month open, and was just about to give one piercing yell for help, when the words were taken out of his mouth, and his voice stopped, and a new and greater surprise created within him.
"David! David! My boy! my boy!" moaned the first old woman.
"Dave! You rascal! What do you mean by this?" cried woman Number Two.
"Dave! Old boy! What in the world is the meaning of this?" cried woman Number Three.
"Dave! How did you find us?" cried woman Number Four.
"Where have you been?" "Where did you come from?" "When did you get here?" "What made you go off?" "Did they seize you?" "Was it the old woman that did it?" These questions, and scores of others, came pouring forth into his astonished ears. As for David, he could not utter one single word. At length the yearning affection of Uncle Moses seemed to be satiated, and the boisterous greetings of the boys exhausted, and one by one they released their grasp, and allowed David to extricate himself.
Thereupon David stood off at a little distance, and gazed at them in mute amazement. The sight which they presented to his astonished eyes was one which might have excited strong emotions in the breast of any beholder.
There stood Uncle Moses, his figure concealed under a tattered gown, and his venerable head enfolded in a battered bonnet of primeval style.
There stood Frank, looking like a strapping peasant woman, with a bonnet that was stuck on the top of his head like a man"s hat.
There stood Clive, looking like a pretty peasant girl, quite Italian in his style, with a dress that was a trifle neater than the others.
And there was Bob, an utter and unmitigated absurdity,--with s dress that was tangled about his legs, and a bonnet that had no crown. The four of them looked more like escaped lunatics than anything else, and no sooner had David taken in the whole scene, than he burst forth into a perfect convulsion of laughter.