[_Club_--"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!">[
[What Buttons said he said.]
"It makes him feel amused, he says, when he thinks how odd that guide looked at him when he made him go down into the crater of Vesuvius; gave him five minutes to say his prayers, and then lifted him up in the air and pitched him down to the bottom. He thinks he is falling still."
[Bandits exchange glances.]
[What the Senator said.]
"First, we must keep up our uproar and merriment to as great an extent as we can, but not very long. Let it be wild, mad, boisterous, but short. It will distract these vagabonds, and throw them off their guard. The first thing on the programme, then, is merriment. Laugh as loud and long as you can."
[_Club_.--"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!">[
[What Buttons said he said.]
"He doesn't know but what he'll have a little trouble about a priest he killed last night. He was in a church, and was walking about whistling, when a priest came up and ordered him out; whereupon he drew his revolver, and put all six of the bullets in the priest's head."
[Bandits cross themselves, and look serious.]