"You are quite right," said she. "But I must admit that it was strange. I have never heard any thing so wild."
The woman's superstition had undoubtedly done for her what human danger could not have done. For the first time since the Englishman had known her she had lost her readiness; and when, at last, she began to shout at her servants, it was with but a half of her earlier vigour. Nor did she after this give any immediate sign that she had forgotten the episode, for she rode a long way in silence; while the others, equally dumb, followed her thoughtfully. To Messenger the cry had been the echoing of some voice of the unremembered past; to Fisher it was a cry which seemed to utter a warning that the end of the hazardous venture was near, though for this he had no reason save the shallow faith which every man in his own way gives to omen.
The strange company had now reached the summit of the pass, and traversed a dark road through an exceedingly close wood, on either side of which bold, treeless rocks, with insurmountable precipices, made a natural fortress. The one danger of pursuit lay, so far as Messenger could see, in the possibility of the troopers bursting the portcullis of the lagoon; and as he went on, and the pace of the mules seemed every minute to be more exasperating, he found himself listening for the tramp of infantry or the whinnying of horses.
"You seem to make the poorest way," said he. "What if they come up here from the house? we are no better then than rats in a trap!"
"If they come up!" she cried, with her grim laugh. "If they cut through six-inch iron bars and two doors of steel in twenty minutes—let them!"
"But they will certainly find the road before daylight—and then?"
"Mon ami, let me answer you in the old proverb: 'He who despises a woman's counsel is a fool!' Do you judge of me so poorly as to believe that I have not thought of that?"
"I merely point out what occurs to me; but I will take your word for it. I must say the same of the road ahead of us. Suppose that is closed by troops——"
She laughed again unrestrainedly.
"Wait until you have passed it," said she, "and you shall tell me then what sort of a road for troops you find it; but we are near the bridge, and I am going to show you why no one shall follow me here."
As she spoke they had emerged from the wood, and stood upon the edge of an immense ravine, which seemed utterly to block egress from the amphitheatre. Long grass and weeds grew upon the bank of the precipice, down which the man of weakened nerve might scarce trust himself to look. The pines were thick even to the border of the chasm. But the muleteers, turning their beasts dexterously upon the brink of the abyss, marched for more than a quarter of a mile at the very side of it, and then came suddenly upon a small drawbridge of iron suspended upon chains from the far side.
Across this bridge the cavalcade went quickly at the woman's orders; but the last of the serving-men, when they had made the transit, worked briskly at a rude windlass, and drew the structure up perpendicular against their own side of the ravine. The whole danger of the pursuit was thus cut off, so far as the rear of the little expedition went; and from that time the spirits of the Spaniards rose, and they began even to hum their ballads and to smoke the indispensable cigarrito. The way had become an ideal one. Luxurious grass was beneath their feet; the strong scent of rich flowers and of hay came up to them upon the refreshing breeze; the hills around shone like domes and spires of marble in the glorious moonlight. Above all, they had put their first barrier between themselves and their enemies; and the road to freedom seemed open.
"Well," said Messenger, as he urged his pony to the trot, and rode on with the woman, who now put herself at the head of the company, "I admit that I was wrong. The place seems honeycombed with paths. If all the road is like this, we should reach Finisterre. I wish I could be as sanguine as you are."
"Hope, my friend," said she in answer, "is the keynote of enterprise. I told you that our real dangers will begin when we leave the mountains; but I think they are to be met. Directly we are in the open we shall break up, and make for my châlet in twos and threes. If any are taken, well, that will be a misfortune; but it must be faced."
"How far will the troops follow us?"
"They—they will return to their quarters at the first opportunity. A Spanish carabineer does not follow any one. He is the guardian of law and order—when it come in his way; otherwise be assumes that all is well with the world. Of course this is a more serious case, for men have been killed. But we forget an émeute very quickly in Spain, especially if we have friends; and I have many."
"And once at Finisterre?"
"We shall get a ship and sail for the Adriatic, and after that for the East, if you will listen to me. All you Englishmen run for shelter to America. It is your mistake. I have a haven near Scutari where no government could find me. We will share it until this is forgotten; then, perhaps, we will return here."
He shrugged his shoulders, for the prospect was not to his liking. But this he did not tell her, since they were now beginning to skirt a low hill, upon which one of the beacon-fires still burned.
The deep red light cast a lurid glow upon the pine forests beneath. When the men turned at length and entered a wooded ravine which led from the amphitheatre between the heights to the outer country, the flicker of it was strong, lighting even the tangled depths of the forest path. By the light of such a rude lantern they emerged from the valley, to come upon a narrow ledge running around the outer side of the hill, and, this being no more than three feet wide, with woods upon the left hand and a deep precipice upon the right, the march was slow, and not a little hazardous.
Below this ledge of rock a long and fertile valley, dotted with hamlets and pastures, spread for many miles. Even by the moon's light the land had a fair aspect; the breeze upon the heights was exhilarating as strong wine. The Spaniards, trusting in the sure steps of the mules, did not even come down from their saddles; the woman set a brisk pace, now gossiping to Messenger behind her with the flippancy of a girl of twenty. Nor did a remote possibility of peril appear to threaten them when the first signal of their ultimate hazard rose up on the night air.
It was the repetition of the wild, weird cry they had heard in the first of the woods.
Suddenly, with the piercing wail and long-drawn sob, the cry rose in the forest above the goat track. Once, twice, thrice they heard it, with stiffening of limbs and hearts palpitating. Then it was echoed back from the depths below them in the cry of a strong man hailing a friend.
"Halloa!" said the invisible voice, "halloa-oa-oa! Billy, where are you? Show yourself, Billy!"
If one risen from the dead had confronted Messenger, he could not have been struck with a greater fear than the horrible, overwhelming panic which now came upon him; for the second voice he recognized as the voice of Mike Brennan, the drunken mate of the tug Admiral whom he had last seen drawn down to the waters of the North Sea. As the cry of one coming from the deep of death to claim justice upon the living were the words to him; and to the Spanish woman and her men they were as an inexplicable omen, which struck them with terror to their very marrows.
"Oh, Holy Mother! what is it? what does it mean? where does it come from?" she cried; and as in answer to her the wail rose again with a long-drawn sob of "Ayo, ayo, ayo!" and then a horrid shriek of laughter, which was like a knife in the ear of those that heard it. Plaintive moaning and piercing cries followed upon the laughter, and were answered again by the shout of the burly voice below; but the unmistakably human note of this did nothing to reassure the Spaniards upon the ledge. Terror beyond control now seized upon them. Some shouted out as if in agony; others tried to turn their mules upon the path, and were with difficulty restrained; some fell into pious ejaculations; others, again, to deep and guttural curses. And while they stood, struck with apprehension of the unseen, lights began to move in the valley below, soldiers came from the houses, the orders to fall in were heard in pure Spanish, horses were saddled quickly, and troops were soon perceived gathering in the single