Mezzoni the Brigand — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

MEZZONI THE BRIGAND. dd But it had been a dangerous “‘hit’’ given in a bad place, undoubtedly, because the Levanter, as they called him, saw that the man’s strength would finally break down his guards, and that he must in self-defense resort to a blow which is only given in desperation by fighting men. The sailor, as we have said, had not received one blow upon his body, and had thus shown the power of science against strength, coolness against headlong and unskilled fighting. The man Vecchio was carried by his comrades to a spring hard by, and his temples bathed and his head washed, but he did not come round to actual consciousness for several hours, and then he was far too exhausted to stand. His frame, large and power- ful as it was, had received a tremendous shock by the blow from his despised adversary. The robbers, with a sort of instinctive admiration for physical power and skill, frankly praised the stranger, and declared that when the captain came he should become one of the band. As this was ex- actly what he had requested, all were on the best of terms, the men sitting at their pipes and hearing the sailor’s personal history and such sea adventures and stories as he colored to suit their taste. It was a wild scene presented by the open plateau upon which the robbers were seated in a_ picturesque group. They were swarthy men, all wearing a sort of half-uniform, and with the conventional Italian hat and leggins, both decked with parti-colored rib- bons. The men were never without their arms, pis- tols and dirks, stuck into their broad leather belts, held by a heavy steel buckle in the front of the waist. All wore scarlet kerchiefs about their necks, (ete) (ECO A ANKE exeve) cS