looking round at the empty battery. "Is the
battle won and over?"

The guns were gone, and the ground was
ploughed with their heavy wheel-tracks. Dark
pools of blood and heaps of slain showed where
the struggle had been fiercest; and close against
Saxon's feet lay the bodies of a cuirassier and
two Neapolitan gunners. At the sight of these
last he shuddered and turned away, for he knew
that they had all three been shot by his own
hand.

"Why, no; the battle is not over," replied
the Earl; "neither can I say that it is won;
but it is more than half won. We have taken
the guns, and the Neapolitans have retreated
into the town; and now a halt has been sounded,
and the men are taking a couple of hours' rest.
The bridge over the Nocito, and all the open
country up to the very gates of. Melazzo, are
ours."

"There has been sharp fighting here," said
Saxon.

"The sharpest we have seen to-day," replied
the Earl. " Their cavalry re-took the guns, and
drove Dunn's men out of the battery; but our
fellows divided on each, side of the road,
received them between two fires, and when they
tried to charge back again, barred the road and
shot the leaders down. It was splendidly done;
but Garibaldi was in imminent danger for a few
moments, and, I believe, shot one trooper with
his own hand. After that, the Neapolitans
broke through and escaped, leaving the guns
and battery in our hands."

"And you saw it all?"

"All. I was among those who barred the
road, and was close behind Garibaldi the whole
time. And now, as you seem to be tolerably
steady on your legs again, I propose that we go
down to some more sheltered place, and get
something to eat. This Sicilian noonday sun
is fierce enough to melt the brains in one's
skull; and fighting makes men hungry."

Some large wood-stores and barns had been
broken open for the accommodation of the
troops, and thither the friends repaired for rest
and refreshment. Lying in the shelter of a
shed beside the Nocito, they ate their luncheon
of bread and fruit, smoked their cigarettes, and
listened to the pleasant sound of the torrent
hurrying to the sea. All around and about, in
the shade of every bush, and the shelter of
every shed, lay the tired soldiers — a motley,
dusty, war-stained throng, some eating, some
sleeping, some smoking, some bathing their hot
feet in the running stream, some, with genuine
Italian thoughtlessness, playing at morra as
they lay side by side on the green sward,
gesticulating as eagerly, and laughing as gaily, as
though the reign of battle and bloodshed had
passed away from the earth. Now and then, a
wounded man was carried past on a temporary
litter; now and then, a Neapolitan prisoner
was brought in; now and then, a harmless gun
was fired from the fortress. Thus the hot noon
went by, and for two brief hours peace
prevailed.

"Poor Vaughan!" said the Earl, now hearing
of his death for the first time. "He had
surely some presentiment upon his mind this
morning. What has become of the horse?"

Saxon explained that he had sent it to the
rear, with orders that it should be conveyed
back to Meri, and carefully attended to.

"I do not forget," he added, "that we are
the repositories of his will, and that Gulnare is
now a legacy. I think it will be wise to send
her to Palermo for the present, to the care of
Signor Colonna."

"Undoubtedly. Do you know, Trefalden,
I have more than suspected at times that that
he loved Miss Colonna."

"I should not wonder if he did," replied
Saxon, gloomily.

"Well, he died a soldier's death, and
tomorrow, if I live, I will see that he has a
soldier's burial. A braver fellow never entered
the service."

And now, the allotted time having expired,
the troops were again assembled, and the
columns formed for action. Garibaldi went on
board the Tuckori, a Neapolitan steam-frigate
that had gone over to him with men, arms, and
ammunition complete, at an early stage of the
war, and was now lying off Melazzo in the bay
to the west of the promontory. Hence, with no
other object than to divert the attention of the
garrison, he directed a rapid fire on the fortress,
while his army advanced in three divisions to
the assault of the town.

Medici took the westward beach; Cosenz the
road to the Messina gate; and Malenchini the
Porta di Palermo. This time, Saxon and Castletowers
marched with the Cacciatori under
General Cosenz.

By two o'clock, they found themselves under
the walls of Melazzo. The garrison had by this
time become aware of the advancing columns.
First one shell, then another, then half a dozen
together, came soaring like meteors over the
heads of the besiegers, who only rushed up the
more eagerly to the assault, and battered the
more desperately against the gate. A shot or
two from an old twelve-pounder brought it down
presently with a crash; the Garibaldians poured
through; and, in the course of a few seconds,
almost without knowing how they came there,
Saxon and Castletowers found themselves inside
the walls, face to face with a battalion of
Neapolitan infantry.

Both bodies fired. The Neapolitans, having
delivered their volley, retreated up the street.
The Garibaldians followed. Presently the
Neapolitans turned, fired again, and again retreated.
They repeated this manoeuvre several times, the
Garibaldians always firing and following, till
they came to the market-place, in the centre of
the town. Here they found Colonel Dunn's
regiment in occupation of one side of the
quadrangle, and a considerable body of Neapolitan
troops on the other. The air was full of smoke,
and the ground scattered over with groups of
killed and wounded. As the smoke cleared,
they could see the Neapolitans on the one hand,