"It makes him feel amused, he says, when he thinks how odd that guide looked at him when he made him go down into the crater of Vesuvius; gave him five minutes to say his prayers, and then lifted him up in the air and pitched him down to the bottom. He thinks he is falling still." [Bandits exchange glances.] [What the Senator said.] "First, we must keep up our uproar and merriment to as great an extent as we can, but not very long. Let it be wild, mad, boisterous, but short. It will distract these vagabonds, and throw them off their guard. The first thing on the programme, then, is merriment. Laugh as loud and long as you can." [_Club_.--"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"] [What Buttons said he said.] "He doesn't know but what he'll have a little trouble about a priest he killed last night. He was in a church, and was walking about whistling, when a priest came up and ordered him out; whereupon he drew his revolver, and put all six of the bullets in the priest's head." [Bandits cross themselves, and look serious.] [Illustration: The Bandits Captured.] [What the Senator said.] "The next thing is, to have some singing. They seem to like our glorious national songs. Give them some of them. Let the first one be 'Old Virginny.'" [_Club_.--"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"] [What Buttons said he said.] "He heard that the priest was not dead. As he always makes sure work, he intends to look in the morning, and if he's alive, he'll cut his throat, and make all his attendants dance to the tune of 'Old Virginny.'" Buttons had to work on that word "Old Virginny," for the quick ears of the Italians had caught it. Bandits cross themselves again. _Captain_.--"I don't believe a word of it. It's impossible." Bandit No. 6.--"He looks like it, any way." In fact, the Senator did look like it. His hair tinged to an unnatural hue by the sulphur of Vesuvius, his square, determined jaw, his heavy, overhanging brow, marked him as one who was capable of any desperate enterprise. [What the Senator said.] "Next and last, Dick, you are to sing 'Yankee Doodle.' You know the words about 'coming to town riding on a pony.' You know that verse ends with an Italian word. I am particular about this, for you might sing the wrong verse. Do you understand, all of you? If so, wink your eyes twice." [The Club all winked twice. Then, as usual: "Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"] [What Buttons said he said.] "He says there is no danger for him, however, for foreigners are in terror of the tune of 'Yankee Doodle.' If he were arrested by the Government, the American Admiral would at once send ashore a file of marines with an 'ultimatum,' a 'Columbiad,' a 'spanker boom,' a 'Webster's Unabridged,' and a 'brachycatalectic,' to demand his surrender at the cannon's mouth." [Great sensation among the bandits at the formidable arms of American marines.] [What the Senator said.]