LIFll OP CUBIB.lLDI.

61

Dightfall the 1win.d auddenly turned round to the opposite point, and
began to prove rather boisteroua. Garibaldi's boats were coasting along
t.he southern eJrtremity of the Gulf of Venice, called Pu11ta di Mautra,
and although the sun had already disappeared, the grand queen of the
.Adriatic, the object of all their desires, could be distinctly seen. At this
moment the general's boat perceived several war vessels approaching the
Mouths of the Po, which were soon recognized as Auatrian. It was
the light squ11dron detached to blockade the lagunes on the side of
Brondolo, had discovered Garibaldi's flotilla, and immediately set
off in pursuit. The Ore•t6• brig, two cutters, and a steamer, composed the
enemy's forcee1, placed under the command of Captain Scopinich, a
eavage Sclavonian, well known to the sailors for his cruelty. Schopinich
lowered his anned boats, and these crowded with men, prepared at once
to surround Garibaldiana. The latter, however, did not alter their
course ; forced to aail against a contrary wind and on a very rough sea,
Garibaldi, when the enemy were first sighted, was making his last tack
to reach Punt.r1 di Mae•tra. This point passed, he would have found
himself under the protection of the Venetian boats, stationed off there to
protect the blockaded coast. The fishermen worked with extraordinary
ardour, for they thought that they were about to escape the enemy by
running on the Istrian coast, but at the moment when the Auatrian boats
were most dispersed, the general gave orders to tack once again. His
design was to llBBS between the enemy's vessels and in this way save all his
comrades. It was with great reluctance that the sailors thua exposed to
the vessels of1rar, obeyed orders. Still, they did do so, but afler a short
tack, they lost their presence of mind, and came within range. A furious
cannonade wan begun, which caused them to loae all courage, and fly
precipitately. This shocking example produced a disorder among the
other boats, which imitated the first. Had it not been for this luckless
flight, they might have gained their object without any great loss, or at

any rate, run into the Mouths of the Po or the Adige; and, once there,
they oou1d hav·e fought the enemy's boats with success, as the water was
too shallow the ships to come up to their aid.

Though commanded by the heavy battery of the Ore•k• and the
other vessels ·which were within pistol range, careless of all danger for
himself, and huving no other thought but to save his brave comrade& in
arms, Garibaldi did not cease urging the cowardly fishermen to follow him.
He exhausted his efforts to make them obey ; he tried to render them
ashamed of th1!ir flight ; he represented to tht!m that escape was certain ;
ahe offered thE1m in advance any payment they might desire ; but nothing

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LlJI'B OF ,(UJUBALDI.

could induce them to <llilplay a little heart. In the meanwhile, a lOQ&
boat, which had swted in pursuit of the scattel'8d buks, suoceeded in
outt.ing off aix from the main body ; others wve followed by two other
umed boaY,. Ed the vielence of the firiDg oompelled them·to seek 111.re.y
in ilight. The BNfl"""·.on !board which wu;the general, and folU' boet-.
commaiJded by intelligent oflicers, succeeded, by skilful manmuvree.
in running

La Meaola; butthe other eight, af\er vain.attempta
at flight, were placed in a daagerona po!lition by the Auatrian veaael.
The weaknetl8 of'their means of attack. and the obstinacy .of the

men, who preferred .a prompt BUrTender to the chances of a deaperaia
tlefence, having deprived the soldiers .of all thoughts of resistance, they
The disarmed Legionaries were put on boal'd the
veallf!ls ; and, with menaces of death, and aareaams on the part of
BchoJ>inich; they were eatTied in chains to the faatneas of Pola.

The four boets whillh gAined the shore on the morning of Auguet 3,
contained the moat precious relics of the legions. Beside Garibaldi and
his beloved Annita, these boats carried tho staff, Cirerovacchio and hi.
sons, FatherUgo Baesi, and a few of the bravest officers and soldieN.
On landing, the majority oonsidered that eo emall a band could not ofer
any resistance to the eBemy, and eaou sought a place of escape for him·
self. The general, his wife, and an officer ainoeroly attached to him,
arter a short rest in a peasant's cottage, chauged their drees, entered a
neighbouring wood and proceeded in the direction of BavenDB. But'ihe
unhappy Annita had 11uffered too greatly from her rude trials by land
and sea, often wanting food .and sleep, and her powen of endurance were
exhausted. The rare love llhe ·had for her husband, her devotion to the
"ause of the people, even more rare in women, had hitherto sustained
her, and rendered her.almost insensible to pain, andtho sufferings inherent
in her condition; but the uncertain fate of so many oompaniona, whose
perils and glory aho had shared, the perspective of n wretched futuro for
her husband and children, had crushedher vigour, destroyed her strength,
and she wa& reduced to extremities.

Tho three fugitives wandered for two days from forest to foreBt, with
the design of futding a refuge at .Ravenna. The peaaautll aided them to
hide, and at times, what seems almost incredible, the police kindly offered
them assistance when they did not act as tJ1cir guides. All this aid waa
not too much ; for the Austrians, hniog learned the rout and lanciing of
the G.aribaldiall11, were searching the country in every directi.:>n to chue
them like wild beuts. On tho_third day the fugitives, still preoccupied
with their escape from the enemy, had SC!Il"ce commenced .their Bight

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