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Grigosie, stand there, carelessly as it were, but with ready fingers. We have no knowledge of the honor of these men." They had not long to wait. From the bend in the ravine came three men, the central figure a man of great stature. He walked proudly, with long, swaggering strides and swinging arms.
My experience has been wide and peculiar, and if you listen to my advice and model your fighting on mine, you'll make a soldier, not of my girth, perhaps, for that's a gift of nature and not to be had for the asking." "No; I shall always be of the lean sort, I fear," said Grigosie. "Don't you be discouraged, lad. There's often good stuff in the lean ones.
The foremost runner on the last occasion was Grigosie's mark, and he missed him. The man had bounded forward to make his capture when Ellerey's revolver sounded again. It was not the moment to hazard a shot, to aim at the swiftly moving limbs. The man leapt into the air and fell sprawling on his face, and with one spasmodic kick lay still. Grigosie turned and ran on again without a word.
No sign of them had they perceived until they suddenly stood in full view. "To travel in such fashion those must be born mountaineers," said Stefan. "Shall I signal to them, Captain?" "Yes. Let them come up the path; we will meet them at the top. Grigosie, you stand on the rising ground there, and if there be any sign of treachery see you repeat the marksmanship you boast of."
"Wait a day or two, comrade, and you'll be crying a different tale," said Stefan, "although, for that matter, the food will doubtless last our time. Had we, in our small circle here, half a dozen taverns filled from cellar floor to garret ceiling, those fellows yonder would give us little chance of visiting them. Keep watch here, Anton; I'll go to the gate." "We'll rest, Grigosie," said Ellerey.
Stefan shouted, wheeling Ellerey's horse round toward him. "No." Without a word Stefan cast loose the reins of the other horses, and the next instant the four riders were galloping for dear life up the pass, Ellerey and Grigosie in the centre, Anton and Stefan on either side. Knee to knee they galloped, their bodies low upon their horses' necks.
The air was keen, tingling in throat and nostrils. "...the wise man knows As his road he goes That the best of life's gifts is wine," came again the lilting chorus from the tower. It was the only sound that disturbed the silence the silence of a world. "A night for regrets, Captain, yet one to speed ambition," said Grigosie. "Yours has been too short to accumulate regrets."
Mine should be a bitter punishment; you yourself have said it. Grant me this only, that I receive it from the brigands yonder, and not from you." Ellerey hardly seemed to hear the boy's latter words. The sudden confession was all his brain seemed to have the power to take in. Stefan remained motionless, statue-like, still staring at Grigosie. For a space there was silence in the tower.
I care not which road we take, nor to what it leads us." "We will follow her," said Ellerey. "I'd never leave so good a comrade as Grigosie in a tight place," murmured Stefan. "Keep watch, Captain, while I gather up what we take with us, and fill our flasks at Grigosie's fairy fountain yonder." When Stefan returned, he found Ellerey standing on the edge of the plateau looking down into the pass.
The boy nodded and ran on. "The top at last!" he exclaimed. "That height yonder is our mark. If we can reach it we shall be in sight of the horses. How far behind have we left them?" He stood for a moment to look back along the ridge under which they had come. Some distance away men were coming into view. "Quick, Grigosie; it's speed now," said Ellerey.
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