She awoke an hour later to a scene of activity.  She could see through the peek-hole that the Captain was consulting his watch every little while, and the men were hurrying about excitedly.  They all looked up at a certain mountain above with suspicious eyes, and Lucia could tell by the tone of their voices that they were angry about something.

A few minutes later the arrival of a very muddy and tired soldier from the opposite direction created a diversion.  He saluted the Captain and handed him a message.  Whatever the message was, it pleased the Captain, for he brought his fist down on his knee and laughed.  Then he gave some very long; and to Lucia, unintelligible orders, and the men lost some of their ugly rebellious look.

He chose two soldiers from the group before him, and motioned them into his dugout.  Lucia tried to make something out of the strange words that the other men spoke, but she could not.  They were eagerly questioning the messenger and giving him food and water.  He was answering them, and from the expression of their faces his replies were not cheering.  At last he stood up, shrugged his shoulders and for the first time noticed Garibaldi.

The other soldiers explained, and Lucia knew they were discussing her when they pointed to the shed.  The messenger evidently suggested milking the goat, for after a little laughing and jesting, one of the men took a pail and approached Garibaldi.

Now, no one had ever milked Garibaldi in all her life but Lucia, and from the disastrous attempts on the part of the soldiers it was evident that no one was ever going to, if that very particular animal could prevent it, and she seemed quite able to, to judge from the results.

Lucia watching through the cracks in the shed laughed softly to herself.  She was not surprised when, a few minutes later, one of the men opened the door and told her to come out.

He could not speak Italian and he resorted to the sign language.  Lucia nodded in understanding.  She might have pretended blank stupidity, but she wanted some milk herself, and this was a good way to get it.  Besides, she decided that she would do something to make it impossible for them to lock her up again on her return.

Garibaldi stood quite still as she milked her, and submitted meekly to her affectionate pats.

The messenger drank greedily from the pail, and when he had finished there seemed to be nothing else for Lucia to do but return to the shed.  She walked back to the door as slowly as possible, and looked hard at the lock.  It was just an ordinary padlock and it hung open on the rusty catch.  She looked quickly at the men behind her.  They were busy talking, and did not appear to be paying any attention to her.

Very quickly, without seeming to do it, she touched the padlock; it swung on the catch, and then fell into the mud.  Lucia put her foot over it and ground it in with her heel.