Out with Garibaldi

age, on starting for the football ground, was told that the hou

morning. She says that she particularly wants to see you, and will be glad if you will

her discontented tone as he left the master's study. "It is a frightful nuisance missing the match t

s up, P

once. I have no idea what it is about; but it must be something particular, for I told her when I wrot

the third best in the house, and now I shall have to put Fincham i

trong as I

enough, but he is desperately slow.

een taken seriously ill. It could hardly be his mother, for it was she who had written; still, she might have managed to do that, even if she had met with some sort of accident, if it was not too serious. If not she, it must be the signora, as he generally called her, and as he was very fond of her, he felt

?" he asked breathlessly,

n replied, in his usua

!" he exclaimed. "W

-room, sir, wi

some one must have been suddenly taken ill, or you would never have sent for me when you knew that we playe

" his mother said. "I have had a lette

ter, m

from your her

ch of the Italian patriot from his father, and of their doings together in So

. Garibaldi, being in Caprera, probably has but little news of what is passing at Naples. He had

t the lette

Comrade an

Several times, when you have written to me, you have told me that you were prepared to join me when I again raised the flag of Italian independence, though you held aloof when France joined us against Austria. You did rightly, for we were betrayed by the French as we were at Rome, and my birthplace, Nice, has been handed ove

nteers from all parts of Italy; five thousand men in all will be sufficient, I think-at any rate, that number collected, I shall cross to the mainland and march upon Naples. You may think that the adventure is a desperate one, but that is by no means my opinion; you know how easily w

money, but I am sure that this will fall short of the needs. We must buy arms not only for ourselves, but to arm those who join us; we must charter or buy steamers to carry us to Sicily. Once there, I regard the rest as certain. Come to me with empty hands, and you will receive the heartiest welcome as my dear friend and comrade; but if you can aid us also with money, not only I, but all Italy, will be grateful to you. I know that you need no inducement, for your heart is wholly with us, and all the more so from this disappearance of madame's father, doubtless the work of th

aribaldi will be no older than myself, and probably not half so strong; none can hate the tyranny of Naples more than I

ly; in giving you up I give up my all; yet I will not say you nay. So fierce is the indignation in England at the horrors of the tyrants' prisons that I doubt not many English will, when they hear of Garibald

ld have taken me, had he bee

h the hope that my father may still be found alive in one of those ghastly prisons. Of course my mother and I have talked the matter over. We both lament that your studies should be interrupted;

other. In any case, I am not likely to be

e is no occasion that you should be, though of course you will go t

sending him any

cause which was sacred in his eyes. At the time he left England, this fund amounted to ￡10,000; and as he never knew when the summons from Garibaldi might

mother. I suppose I shall not g

ll him that I am most reluctantly obliged to take you away from school for a few months; but that it is a matter of the great

rse I should like to go back again; but if they won't let

accustomed to the freedom Englishmen enjoy, these things appeared to him a good deal more monstrous than they did to those who had been used to them all their lives. He risked death a score of times in the defence of Rome; and he finally lost his life while endeavouring to discover whether my father was a prisoner in one of the tyrants' dungeons. Thus, although in all other respects an English boy-or Italian only through your grandfather-you have been constantly hearing of Italy and its wrongs, and on that point feel as keenly and strongly as the son of an Italian patriot would do. I consider that it is a holy war in which you are about to take part-a war that, if successful, will open the doors of dungeons in which thousands, among whom may be my

ir lives for, it is good enough for me. But you know, mother," he went on, in a changed voice, "you can't put an old head on to young s

t with a sad face; and bear in mind always, Frank, that you are going out not so much to fight, as to search every prison and fortress that may be captured, to

he signora, rising from her seat, went hastily to her, and put her arm round her neck.

say, Frank, or

e repeated, in a low tone. "Do you think, mother-do you think it

ve and lingering in a dungeon beyond human aid. Never have I spoken on the subject, except to my mother, when she first suggested the possibility; but now that there is a chance of the prison doors being opened, I may let myself not hope-it can hardl

ng: "You must not permit yourself to hope, my boy; you must shut that out from your min

d. "Did we not hear all about his being killed, how Beppo saw him s

ee country. She said it would be easy for them to bribe or threaten his servant into telling any tale they thought fit; he or some other agent might have informed the banditti that a rich Englishman would be passing along the road at a certain time, and that the government would be ready to pay for his capture and delivery to them. The prisoner taken may have been promised a large sum to repeat the story of the Englishman having died and been buried

glishman, and doubtless learned that he carried loaded pistols, and may have reckoned confidently upon his resisting and

could have sent up their agents to the br

gation, and under the promise of a large sum of money and protection denounce the whole plot. It seems to me more likely that they would send an agent to the chief brigand, and pay him a sum of money to deliver the captive up to men who would meet him at a certain place. It is probable that the chief would, on some excuse or other, get rid of all his

could not have anticipated that any vigorous search would be made for it. For these reasons I have all along believed that Leonard did not come to his end as was supposed. He may have been killed afterwards by those into whose hands he was delivered; but even this does not seem likely, for one of them might betray the secret for a large reward. He may have died in a dungeon, as so many thousands have done; but I believe firmly that he did not, as reported, die i

s view; but his mother, although she admitted that it might possibl

t have many preparations to make. The Garibaldian outfit is a simple one-a red shirt, trousers of any colour, but generally blue, a pair of gaiters and one of thick, serviceable boots, a wide-awake, or, in fact, any sort of cap with perhaps a red feather, a well-made blanket wound up and strapped over one shoulder like a scarf, a red sa

shall not want t

tural enough, as any English traveller might take them for protection against brigands if he intended to go at all out of beaten tracks. As to the money, I shall go to the bank on Monday, and request them to give me bills on some firm in Genoa or Turin. Garibaldi will find no difficulty in getti

ll for me to get before I start, except a brace of pisto

uestions put to you as to why you are leaving; and of course this enterprise of Garibaldi must be kept a profound secret. One

ack," Mrs. Percival said to Frank on Monday

ow, I am not sorry, for

he is often in the drawing-room and dining-room, in neither of which he has any business; and that when she went up yesterday evening-you know that she is a very quiet walker-she came upon him standing outside the drawing-room door when we were chatting together, and

hem in exactly the same order as before, though I do not think it likely that I could have done so. However, I thought nothing of it at the time; but now that I hear that he has been spying about the rooms and listening at the door, I cannot but connect the two things together, and it may be that the man has been acting as an agent for the Neapolitan government. You know, when w

iles, they may have very well placed this man here. I regret now that at the time this man came over at your mother's request, we listened to his plausible tale and took him into our service, but I had not at that time any strong suspicions th

in surprise; and Mrs. Percival added

the general's proposed expedition are already current. But he will know that, immediately on receipt of that letter, you sent for Frank. Doubtless there are other Neapolitan spies over here, and every movement you have made since will, in that case, have been watched, and you will have been seen to go to the bank to-day. It is not likely that they would know how much we have drawn out, for your conversation was with the manager in his private room; but knowing your devotion to Garibaldi's cause, they might well suppose that the amount would be a c

ghten me

quel of these affairs, and would cause such general indignation that the ministry would take the matter up in earnest, and the result would be far more disastrous for the government of Naples than could be caused by any amount of money reaching Garibaldi, whom they must regard as an adventurer who could give them some trouble, but who could not hope for success. Therefore, I do not think that there is any danger whatever of personal injury to Frank; but I do think there i

," Mrs. Percival said,

in an hotel from the time I start till I have handed the bills to Garibaldi, and will take care always to get into a carriage with several other passengers. If I hadn't had fair warning, I dare say I should have be

steal it from the rack where it would be placed, while his attention was turned elsewhere. However, I have an old friend at Genoa, the Countess of Mongolfiere; we exchange letters two or three times a year. She is, of course, a patriot. I will, if your mother agrees with me, enclose the bills in an

er," Mrs. Percival said, "and wo

the door, and suddenly threw it open. To his surprise his

r feet. "I did not know you were there. I thought that f

. "I knew that we should be talking this matter over, and thought

ad you did so. Then you think

ure and take care of yourself, just

other; you can

drive straight from her place to the Villa Spinola; better still, go first to Garibaldi, tell him where the money is, and ask him to send three of his officers to your hotel on th

o doubt, they will get the assistance of some of Francisco's agents. There are sure to be plenty of them in Genoa at present; but however many of them there may be, they would not venture to attack in daylight four men driving

n for you to have everything ready to-night, and send Mary out for a hansom to-morrow morning, so that you could, when it comes up to the door, go straight down, get into it, and drive to the station. I don't

y catch me the

they might be on the look-out for you when you arrived, and take th

o the cab, you say out loud, 'Victoria,' so that Beppo may hear it, you can then, when once on your way, tell the cabman to take you to Ch

ll these precautions,"

with. Now, I will write my letter to the Countess at once, so that she may get