Bulla, like everybody else, appeared to take to me and treated me as an
equal, after conversing with me for hours at a time. I was always a
welcome guest at any of the bandits' camps and they often made me show off
my admired powers on fox-cubs, badgers, weasels and other such wild
creatures which they or their peasant friends had trapped alive. My
ability to tame, handle, fondle and make tractable to anyone such animals
appeared a source of unflagging interest and unceasing entertainment to
these ruffians.
As I was allowed to dispose of my time as I chose, whenever I was not busy
rounding up strayed stock or taming raw colts, I had plenty of leisure to
ride about the country-side, make friends, get intimate with the
constabulary and the outlaws and idle many of my days as appeared most
pleasant. I took full advantage of my partial liberty.
The weather, from my arrival at the Imperial estate, was mostly fine and
often glorious. Spring came early and merged beautifully into summer. I
enjoyed myself hugely. Besides local peculiarities and the humors of the
tacit league to thwart the constabulary and foster the interests of the
outlaws, I derived much entertainment from the traffic on the Flaminian
Highway.
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