Doubled over, wincing, the boy strikes again, and then again, and sees the bloody trail grow. Tears spill down his cheeks. "Only a few meters left!" he cries inside. "Only one blow more." And before the screaming, cursing multitude he deals it.
Bleeding and bewildered, Gaudenzia tries to pass on the outside, but Giorgio blocks her. The flag of arrival is just ahead. He lifts his nerbo, this time in the sign of victory, but to the gasps of the multitude she cuts around behind him, knifes her body between Rosella and the fence, thrusts her nose under his upraised arm—to win! By the length of her red-scarred head she wins.
It is over. The duel is done. Giorgio falls sobbing into the waiting arms of the Chief-of-the-Guards. The big man is sobbing, too. "Don't cry, Giorgio. Don't look like that. You had to do it. You just had to!"
CHAPTER XXXI
At the Victory Dinner
It was long past midnight when Giorgio was allowed to enter Gaudenzia's stable in the Contrada of the Giraffa. In his hands he carried a kit containing boric acid, a jar of animal grease, and a piece of linen torn from a once-fine tablecloth.
The mare had been lying asleep, but at the sound of the boy's voice she struggled to her feet. He turned his head away. He could not bring himself to face her. Not even glancing in her direction, he asked permission of the barbaresco to treat her wounds.