very good luck he had had some four lire in the pocket of his gown.

When we had recovered something of blood and heart by our running, I
told Belviso to keep himself snug in some bushes while I went marketing
with his four lire. I had seen some herdboys on the hill and was
determined to supply him with clothes proper to his sex. I went up to
the boys and offered a lire for a pair of breeches. Half a dozen pairs
were off and under my nose before I had done speaking. I chose two pair,
begged a hunch of bread into the bargain, and made them happy as kings
with three lire. I asked them my whereabouts and learned that I was four
leagues from Volterra and seven from Pomarance. I was south of Volterra,
south-west of Siena, but Pomarance was on my road to Arezzo. To
Pomarance, therefore, so soon as we were clothed in the one
indispensable garment of manhood, we determined to go.

To reach our haven it was necessary to cross one of the main lines of
communication with Siena, that from Florence, namely, by the Val d'Elsa,
or that from Rome by San Quirico and the Val d'Orcia. We agreed that the
latter was the safer for us as being further from the seat of
Government, though much the more difficult. The country was mountainous
and thinly populated. If we ran in no danger of robbery--as how should
we, who had nothing but rags and empty stomachs about us?--we might
easily starve, or keep the beasts from starvation. There were wolves in
these hills, and dogs, turned rogue, which were as bad or worse. All
this, however, we were ready to face so soon as we had eaten bread,
washed ourselves at a well by the roadside, and commended ourselves to
God. "Come, brother," I said, "our fortunes must needs mend since they
can never be more broken. In this world there is no stay, but a thing
gets better or worse. I believe we may be happy yet."