Mezzoni the Brigand — page 146: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

138 : MEZZONI THE BRIGAND. - sunk in terror upon the floor, wringing her hands in agony, and having no doubt that Alberto had been shot dead upon the spot. The window of the countess’ chamber was at least fifteen feet from the ground, and opened upon a rear court. Alberto had dropped himself to the hard flagstones or pavement, and turned to fly at the very moment the pistol was fired after him. Chance favored the culprit. He gota ball in his left shoul- der, and fora moment was staggered, the next he dashed away, and over a low stone wall which sepa- rated the court-yard from a back street. This street was inaccessible from the front of the palace and the pursuers lost time in discovering the fact. However, by adopting the same means improved by the object of their pursuit, they were soon upon his track, though he was out of sight. “There is blood here,’’ said one of the officers, as he surmounted the wall. ‘‘He got your ball then,”’ said the detective to the man who had fired from the window. ‘Yes; and here’s more tracks of blood.”’ The tracks continued to appear, plain enough to follow by the light of the moon. A moment more and they came to quite a pool of blood; the culprit had paused here for some reason, and looking carefully about them it became appar- ent that he had entered a shelter on the side of the street formed by a stone archway. They plunged in aiter him, the first of the officers receiving a shot which brought him to the ground and caused the others to pause. They were still two to one, but he was a desperate man and they hesitated. They could not see where Alberto really was in the dark. They raised their companion, who was insensible, comicboo