Every word of the sailor's story was stamped with
truth; and so it came about that when Corbario believed himself at last
quite safe, a man in his own pay suddenly discovered the whole truth
about the attempted crime, even to the name of the principal witness.
It was only in the quail season, when there were poachers about, during
April, May, and early June, that Ercole lived in his straw hut, a little
way from the cottage. He spent the rest of the year in a small stone
house that stood on a knoll in sight of Ardea, high enough to be
tolerably safe from the deadly Campagna fever. Every other day an old
woman from the village brought him a copper conca full of water; once a
month she came and washed for him. When he needed supplies he went to
Ardea for them himself. His dwelling was of elementary simplicity,
consisting of two rooms, one above the other, with grated windows and
heavy shutters. In the lower one he cooked and ate, in the upper chamber
he slept and kept his few belongings, which included a plentiful supply
of ammunition, his Sunday clothes, his linen, and his papers. The latter
consisted of a copy of his certificate of birth, his old military
pass-book, showing that he had served his time in an infantry regiment,
had been called in for six weeks' drill in the reserve, had been a
number of years in the second reserve, and had finally been discharged
from all military service. This booklet serves an Italian throughout
life as a certificate of identity, and is necessary in order to obtain a
passport to leave the country.
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