The Count of Monte Cristo

Back Forward Menu

are you?' inquired the sentinel.--'I am Luigi Vampa, shepherd of
the San-Felice farm.'--'What do you want?'--'I would speak with your
companions who are in the glade at Rocca Bianca.'--'Follow me, then,'
said the sentinel; 'or, as you know your way, go first.'--Vampa smiled
disdainfully at this precaution on the part of the bandit, went before
Teresa, and continued to advance with the same firm and easy step as
before. At the end of ten minutes the bandit made them a sign to stop.
The two young persons obeyed. Then the bandit thrice imitated the cry of
a crow; a croak answered this signal.--'Good!' said the sentry, 'you may
now go on.'--Luigi and Teresa again set forward; as they went on
Teresa clung tremblingly to her lover at the sight of weapons and the
glistening of carbines through the trees. The retreat of Rocca Bianca
was at the top of a small mountain, which no doubt in former days
had been a volcano--an extinct volcano before the days when Remus and
Romulus had deserted Alba to come and found the city of Rome. Teresa
and Luigi reached the summit, and all at once found themselves in the
presence of twenty bandits. 'Here is a young man who seeks and wishes