A cold perspiration burst from every pore, and his hair stood on end.

He repeated his question.

One of the bandits rose, and offered him a glass filled with Orvietto, saying, 'To the health of the brave Cucumetto and the fair Rita.' At this moment Carlini heard a woman's cry; he divined the truth, seized the glass, broke it across the face of him who presented it, and rushed towards the spot whence the cry came.
After a hundred yards he turned the corner of the thicket; he found Rita senseless in the arms of Cucumetto.

At the sight of Carlini, Cucumetto rose, a pistol in each hand.

The two brigands looked at each other for a moment--the one with a smile of lasciviousness on his lips, the other with the pallor of death on his brow.