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Orso had had time to forget the faces of his village neighbours; but the sight of the old man in green spectacles instantly called up old memories in his mind. His presence in attendance on the prefect sufficed to insure his recognition. This was Barricini, the lawyer, mayor of Pietranera, who had come, with his two sons, to show the prefect what a ballata was.
"It is five minutes past noon, and you are still in your forage-cap a week in barracks." Only once, at Quatre-Bras, he had said to him, "Well done, Orso! But be cautious!" But, after all, these later memories were not connected in his mind with Pietranera.
I smell powder in the air. Before long, butcher's meat will be cheap in Pietranera!" Orso had been parted from his father at so early an age that he had scarcely had time to know him. He had left Pietranera to pursue his studies at Pisa when he was only fifteen. Thence he had passed into the military school, and Ghilfuccio, meanwhile, was bearing the Imperial Eagles all over Europe.
They have gone to meet him on the road, and he is to stop a day at Pietranera, before he goes on to Corte, to lay what they call a corner-stone such stupid nonsense! He will sleep to-night with the Barricini; but to-morrow they'll be disengaged.
After having answered that he was doing as well as possible, Orso inquired, in his turn, whether Miss Nevil was still at Pietranera, and whether she had written to him. Colomba, bending over her brother, completely hid her companion from his sight, and indeed the darkness would have made any recognition difficult. She was holding one of Miss Nevil's hands.
The idea of coming face to face with the dreaded bandits mentioned by Colomba made an evident impression on the soldiers. The sergeant, still cursing Corporal Taupin "that dog of a Frenchman" gave the order to retire, and his little party moved toward Pietranera, carrying the pilone and the cooking-pot; as for the pitcher, its fate was settled with a kick.
"No fear!" answered Colomba. "Let us get on. You follow me." "But I assure you we're going wrong. The village can't be over there. I'm certain we're turning our backs on it. Why, look at those lights, far away. Pietranera must be in that direction." "My dear soul," said Colomba, and she looked very much agitated, "you're perfectly right. But in the maquis less than a hundred yards from here "
Once upon a time, Colonel della Rebbia sent a small sum of money to the Municipal Council of his commune to help to provide a fountain. The lawyer Barricini hastened to forward a similar gift, and to this generous strife Pietranera owes its water supply. Round about the evergreen oak and the fountain there is a clear space, known as "the Square," on which the local idlers gather every night.
The della Rebbia house and tower stand on the northern side of the square at Pietranera. The Barricini house and tower are on the southern side. Since the colonel's wife had been buried, no member of either family had ever been seen on any side of the square, save that assigned by tacit agreement to its own party.
The sailor had no doubt at all that Orso was coming back to Corsica per fare la vendetta, such was his expression, and he affirmed that before long there would be fresh meat to be seen in the village of Pietranera.
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