It is true there were paths innumerable down the terraces from the back of almost any house in the street, most of them probably leading down to the river far below, but Natale had been no explorer of the neighborhood during his week of captivity, and was ignorant of the precipitate windings and the final ending of even the most practicable of these. No, he must go by the road, and he must wait until Luigi should return, and get to bed and to sleep.
Natale knew that the priest slept soundly, for, one night he had had the misfortune to knock over upon the floor a pot containing a carnation plant, and the crash had not awakened Luigi. The boy had waked and had gone to the window to peer out into the night, fancying that he heard the hoarse creaking of the caravan brake as the clumsy vehicle crawled down the hill, and in craning his head between the pots, his elbow had pushed over one of them. Fortunately, neither pot nor plant had broken, and he had spent a good deal of time in packing the loosened earth about the carnation’s roots and replacing the pot among its fellows. The next morning, Sora Grazia had bidden him be more careful about carrying mud upstairs on his shoes, only to be cleaned up by her afterward, and he supposed he must have left some of the earth upon the floor, in the dim light.
At any rate, Luigi slept soundly, and if he, himself, could only manage to keep awake until all was safe, he knew that he would have no difficulty in unbarring the door. He had accomplished it unaided only that morning, with Sora Grazia standing by and saying that it was the first thing of use he had set his hands to do since coming there to live. She had spoken good-naturedly though, and Natale had nothing against her. No, not even now did he remember her late harsh words, for he was too sweet-natured to harbor malice. He had only suffered, and now there was a prospect of escaping more suffering of the same kind.
So after sitting on his bed with a wild turmoil of thoughts engaging his busy little brain, he began rapidly to undress. Luigi must not find him up! But, after taking off the strong new suit of clothes which Mrs. Bishop had had made for him, he rummaged under his mattress where his old things had been stored by Sora Grazia and quickly got into the worn trousers, the faded blouse and leggings, tucking the old shoes under his pillow. He had set the new shoes and stockings in orderly fashion on the floor and folded up the new clothes and laid them at the foot of the little cot. How fortunate that his old shoes had not been thrown away, for he could hardly have traveled barefoot over the flinty stones of the road and the river. Natale chose to wear the old easy shoes, for the new ones had always hurt him, and he would not have been able to steal unheard out of the house with those heavy, creaking soles tramping over the bricks. If he had known of the long way ahead of the old worn shoes, perhaps he would have planned to carry the despised footgear in his hands. But forethought had little place in the mind of so young a runaway, and he was guided in his change of clothes only by his own desires for comfort. The old clothes were as familiar as old friends, and therefore he preferred them.
Then, after making his preparations, not forgetting to change the money from the pocket of the new jacket to that of his old trousers, he laid himself down on the cot, and drew up the light covering snugly about his shoulders, devoutly hoping that he would not fall soundly asleep.
If Natale had only known it, Sora Grazia, believing Natale safe for the night, had slipped off for a gossip with a friend living just back of the church, simply drawing the door to behind her and leaving the coast clear for flight. And it would not have been difficult for the boy to leave a semblance of himself tucked under the bed covering, in the shape of the roll of discarded clothes and shoes! But little Natale was not possessed of a very designing brain, and after all, Luigi might have come in untimely, and spoiled it all!
In a few moments, the would-be runaway was fast asleep, while the moon sailed across the valley from the eastern toward the western sky.
CHAPTER IX
THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRD
When Natale next opened his eyes he became very wide awake indeed, in an instant. In fact, he did not know that he had been asleep at all, until the moonlight, slanting in, showed Luigi’s long body stretched upon the iron bed close by.
What could have waked Natale? For a moment he lay still without recollection of the momentous plans made at his early bedtime. Then he recalled a sensation of icy cold water about his feet, and he remembered that he had dreamed of a sudden plunge into the river while trying to find the stepping-stones. It must have been the chill of the dream-water that had awakened him! He sat up and found that he was still dressed and in his old clothes.