estuvo escrita, Carlini la arrebató y se apresuró a ir a la llanura en busca de un mensajero. Encontró a un joven pastor que vigilaba su rebaño. Los mensajeros naturales de los bandidos son los pastores que viven entre la ciudad y las montañas, entre la vida civilizada y la salvaje. El muchacho aceptó el encargo, prometiendo estar en Frosinone en menos de una hora. Carlini regresó, ansiando ver a su amada y anunciarle la feliz noticia. Encontró al grupo en el claro, cenando las provisiones exigidas como contribución a los campesinos; pero sus ojos buscaron en vano a Rita y a Cucumetto entre ellos.
“He inquired where they were, and was answered by a burst of laughter. A cold perspiration burst from every pore, and his hair stood on end. He repeated his question. One of the bandits rose, and offered him a glass filled with Orvietto, saying, ‘To the health of the brave Cucumetto and the fair Rita.’ At this moment Carlini heard a woman’s cry; he divined the truth, seized the glass, broke it across the face of him who presented it, and rushed towards the spot whence the cry came. After a hundred yards he turned the corner of the thicket; he found Rita senseless in the arms of Cucumetto. At the sight of Carlini, Cucumetto rose, a pistol in each hand. The two brigands looked at each other for a moment—the one with a smile of lasciviousness on his lips, the other with the pallor of death on his brow. A terrible battle between the two men seemed imminent; but by degrees Carlini’s features