The soldier placed his gourd in his hands, and the outlaw drank the water given him by a man with whom he had recently exchanged rifle shots. Then he asked that his hands might be bound so that they would be folded on his breast, instead of behind his back.
“I like to lie comfortably,” he said.
They readily gratified him; then the adjutant gave the signal for departure, bade adieu to Mateo, who made no reply, and marched down at a rapid pace towards the plain.
Nearly ten minutes passed before Mateo opened his mouth. The child glanced uneasily, now at his mother and now at his father, who, leaning upon his gun, gazed at him with an expression of intense wrath.
“You begin well!” said Mateo at last, in a voice which, although calm, was terrifying to one who knew the man.
“Father!” cried the child stepping forward, with tears in his eyes, as if to throw himself at his feet.
But Mateo cried:
“Away from me!”
And the child stopped and stood still, sobbing, a few steps from his father.
Giuseppa approached. She had spied the watch chain, one end of which protruded from Fortunato’s shirt.