"Ouf!" he muttered, shrugging his shoulders. "I am in the lion's den. You must meet me, monsieur."
"Yes, in the breach—sword in hand—be gone, sir!"
"I go: but hear me. Remember the fate of the Italian commandant of Crotona. I swear, by God and the glory of France, that like him you shall die, and hang from these ramparts when the place surrenders. Our heavy gun-batteries will open at noon; you have but two hundred rank and file: for every one of these I can bring one piece of cannon and a hundred soldiers—ouf! we shall eat you up. Before the sun sets to-night my triumph shall be complete, and Calabria once more the emperor's."
And thus we parted with the bitterest personal animosity. He retired with the bewildered Lascelles; who led him, blindfold, to the outer barrier, and, with his trumpeter, there dismissed him.
"By Heaven!" he exclaimed, when he hurried back to me, "what a triumph it would have been to have sent the old fox over to Messina! Only think of Sherbrooke's flaming general order and address of thanks on the occasion. What on earth tempted you to let him go?"
"Flags of truce must be respected: but I had a hard struggle between etiquette and inclination. Desire the gunners of the guard to telegraph to the Electra and gun-boats to keep close in shore; and send my orderly to the Visconte di Santugo, saying I will visit him shortly."
The continual skirmishing of the peasantry and banditti with the French had greatly retarded the operations of the latter: but on the 10th of February—the infantry brigade of Milette's corps having descended from the Milia heights and come within range of our cannon—it became imperative to order off to Sicily the whole of the armed paesani who occupied the town of Scylla; as the bombarding operations of the besieging army would only subject them to destruction. While our batteries kept in check the soldiers of Milette, I superintended the embarkation of these brave fellows and the remnant of Santugo's Free Corps; who were all received on board the Sicilian gun-boats at the sea staircase. The visconte remained with me; but his volunteers, who afterwards distinguished themselves so much in our service, were quartered in Messina. Poor Giacomo was afterwards slain in the brilliant attack made by General Macfarlane on the coast of Naples, in the July following. The Cavaliere Paolo for his bravery on the same day, at the capture of the Castello d'Ischia, received the thanks of Ferdinand IV. and Sir J. Stuart, at the head of the army. He was afterwards created Conte Casteluccio, and shared his coronet with the fair widow of Castagno. He is now senior commandant of the Yager Guards in the Neapolitan army.
I transmitted with the gun-boats the whole of the sick and wounded, and everything of value. I sent away my groom with my gallant grey; which was indeed far too good a nag to be captured and ridden by Frenchmen.
It was in vain that I intreated Bianca to go in safety with the boats, and described to her all the horrors of a siege: the noise of our guns playing on Milette's advancing column only confirmed the fond girl's determination to remain with us; and she seemed happy when the last gun-boat, laden to the water's edge with her countrymen, moved slowly away from the shore, and the only chance by which she could leave me was cut off for ever.
A safe place was fitted up for her by the soldiers in a bomb-proof chamber, where the thick walls and arches of solid masonry shut out the storm of war, which was soon to shake the towers of Scylla to their deepest foundations. The barriers of palisade were secured, the bridges drawn up, the standard hoisted, the guns double shotted with balls, canister, and grape, the breastworks and ramparts lined, the locks and flints examined; and thus we awaited the enemy on the forenoon of the 10th: the roll of their brass drums rang among the hills, as the successive columns descended from the heights of Milia, taking the most circuitous routes to avoid the fire of our cannon, which played upon their line of march at every opportunity afforded by the inequality of the ground.