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

ashol'6'.at

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

fiahe.tt­

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

"'· 1zed by Google

OFB O'F

GA.JllliAl.DI .

than .Annita mace a sign to stop, and she almost fell to the ground, so
ntterly was she

Garibaldi and his comrade hastened to support her and bear her to a
neighbouring farm, where they hoped to find food, and means to carry
her to a place of security. But, on arriving there, they learned from
some sailors that the Austrians were 'Close on their track, and they were
foreed to fttreat at full speed. Fortunately, .a nobly-minded man'aup­
plied.a phaeton, with which tho ilight was continued during

16Ver.al

T01rards evening the three fugitives had arrived at a cheese farm at no
great distance from Ravenna, the property of the Marquis Guiccioli,
where the ill-fated Annita fainted. They stopped at onoe, and went to
aak asylum and help .-.at the nearest spot. Garibaldi toek his precic)us
borden in his arms, oarried the Irick woman to a bed piously offered
by the good l'lUiic&, whom noble sentiment& of humanity oaused to forget
the ferocious menaces of the A11strian Proconsul, &Dod, after having asiled
for a draught, with which her husbmd tried to refresh her porched
she expired-victim of :conjugal afl'eetiou, and DIAl'Vellous 1eal for the
cause of the people. May Italy raise a monument to euch a woman,
which will reDder her memory immortal !

This anexpected loss struck Garibaldi stupor, and if ho did :not
ehed a tear upon his wife's corpse, it1us because, hardened by misfortune,
by a long erile, and the woes hiJ country 1utFered, tJae .sources of tears
were dried up; still, the pallor wl1ich ·has covered his, face .since that
catastrophe, remains :as an ineffaceable of the grief be suffered.
The fear of compromiaing the honest. farmers, who,. were he 11urprised in
their houses by the Austrians, ·would have 1ufl'ered dearly for the hospi­
tality they granted, decidoo Garibaltli .on departing so aoon as, with his
comrade's help, .he had .given a humble barial to his wife's borly in Ill
adjoining field.

The pity and respect of the poor farmers who had granted an asrlum
to the dying induced them to keep her burying-place a secret
till l:ctter times. This was the desire of her unhappy husband. and it
was to their advantage too, though they did not talre that into oonai­
deration. Unhappily the instinct of a fiiVourite dog of the deceased
rendered all precautions futile. The poor brate, :seeking its mistre11s,
scratched up the soil in which she was buried, to aneh ;an ·extent, . that
attention was attracted, and tllc mystery discovered. "'"itll the Austrians
hatred is not extinguiBhed even in presence of a tomb ; and the pious
persons who had aceomplisked a deed of humanity, paid witll impr:aon­
ment for the crime of sheltering rebels.

LJ.

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