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"You may pass muster for a man. What is your name?" "Anton." "You have muscle enough to strike a good blow on occasion, but I know naught of your courage. And your companion there, what of him? Step into the light and let me look at you. How are you called?" "Grigosie, if it please you, Captain."
"I saw the making of a grand comrade in Grigosie. I can understand his doing this kind of thing, but not a woman." "The fact remains that she is a woman," said Ellerey. "Wonderful," answered the soldier, as he handed back the paper. "It would appear that the making of a man rests much in his clothes. I've never known good come from a petticoat. Grigosie didn't wear one.
Stefan followed them and stood in the doorway. "The question is worth consideration, though you may not think so," Grigosie began. "You have been deceived, Captain, and also those who served with you." "Enough of that, lad. It is past, and the present is our concern. If we come out of this with our lives we may talk of punishing those who deceived us."
The logs burnt low upon the hearth, and only a feeble light was in the tower. Anton saw Ellerey drink the wine and then cast himself down not far from Grigosie; but it was too dim for him to see whether all his companions were asleep. Some certainly were, for they snored, and others were restless, for they shifted their positions at intervals and sighed heavily.
Where Ellerey and Grigosie were there was deep shadow, growing deeper as the fire died down. One sleeper there was restless for a little while, and then his breathing proclaimed that his sleep was heavy. Once Anton thought there was a darker shadow within the shadow, which moved quite silently, but he did not speak; he only listened very eagerly and raised himself on his elbow a little.
I will tell you why when you choose to listen to me. To-morrow you can deliver me to the brigands; until then I am Grigosie again." As she picked up her cap and drew it over her curls Ellerey looked up. It was a relief to see the lad before him as he had always known him. "And Grigosie talks folly," he said.
They met no one save an occasional woodcutter or charcoal-burner, and once they disturbed some robbers who were perhaps near the place of their hidden booty. On the third day they were on the edge of the forest, and much open country lay between them and the mountains. The utmost caution was necessary now. Ellerey called Grigosie to him. "Anton said that you would be useful at scouting work."
Ellerey had instructed Stefan to use the lad well, and with a grim smile upon his face the soldier rode with his youthful companion, keeping silence for a time. "You're a slip of a lad for such work as we have on hand," he said presently. "How came your mother to part with you so early?" "Rest her soul, she's dead." "Your father, then?" "Dead also," answered Grigosie.
His life in Sturatzberg had made him observant. Presently the leading horseman stopped. "It is difficult work for horses from here," said one of the brigands. "They can be fetched afterward to the place the chief directs." "You, Stefan and Anton, will stay with them," said Ellerey. "I will send Grigosie back with orders presently. Take orders from none but Grigosie."
"Your own ambition supplies the motive, then? There is no love for a cause behind?" "Hush, lad; those are dangerous questions to ask a soldier. If I know that reward awaits success, it is as certain that failure means death. Those who employ my sword would not hesitate to sacrifice me to save the situation; so you see, Grigosie, you set out on a venture some enterprise when you joined my company."
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