Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-29

Of the bridge. he continued to shout. open
II waitr' None the less, he knew that
armed men were all about him and that
any moment might bring them at his
throat
"open-I waitr'
The gate keeper. awakened from a heavy
sleep, came from the rude watch tower
above the bridge and stood there with
upon the faces of the men and drew back
with hand uplifted.
why do you call to me in my masters
voioef' he asked.
shouting in the court yard behind them
warned them that the truth was known.
The gyDsies had discovered the dead mans
body and pen-mell they began to swarm
about those they believed to be his assas-
sins Haggard, In the weird light. their
hgures in phantom shapes, they pressed
on searching every nook and Granny with
the naked blade of sword and scimitar,
wailing their doleful lament and encourag-
ing one another to the pursuit. Nor had
Gavin any belief that he could escape
them Called by the peril from the I'M
natural trance which had fallen upon him,
he swung round upon his heel as though
TO protect his friend whose life ne had thus
Jeopardfzed. but in his heart he believed
that nothing could save them. This was
the moment when the uttermost penalty of
folly must be paid It found him ready
with logged courage, but lacking all
IDEAS except that supreme determination to
ASHl Tor MS lire to the end.
Give me the bludgeoh Arthur am
the stronger -
Don't think of that-there's something
lef; IN my locker still. Side by side. old
chap. unto the end. What luck, We'd
have been across the bridge in another
ten seconds -.
Some of them are going to remember us
anyway Stand close to me, Arthur-it
won't be long now
Indeed. one of the gypsies discovered him
as he spoke and with a loud cry to the
others made known his news. The horde
swept on with the ferocity of wolves.
Knives cleaning, eyes bright in the dark
ness, some voices curSing, some bowling
IN british anger, they came pell-nell toward
the gate. And then, as suddenly, they
matted and a silence as of the dead of night
Tell upon the house.
Some one upon the mountain road with
out had fired rife. The report of it.
echoing in the lonely hills, was like a sharp
peal of thunder, rafting from peak to peak
with monstrous sounds near by and low
rumblings far away. To the gypsies it spoke
g message which they alone understood.
Ihey stood altogether. shivering and glib
pering IN the darkness. Their muttered
words were uninteliigible to Gavin. Be-
yond the sound of the rifie-shot ne could
hear nothing--or when the silence was
broken again, it was by the tongue of
wolves indescribably haunting and long
drawn as a dirge of woe.
There is some one on the mountain road
and they are afraid of him. he said quick
ly to Kenyon.
The idea of profit to come by the truce
occurred to him in the same breath; and,
crying loudly, again he babe the doorkeeper
to open.
open, open,''
Twenty voices took up the cry. The gyp
sizes We'd with each other in shouting the
summons. For they understood the signal.
The rope was about their own necks they
said. The last chance was to open the gate
to their prisoners. When the doorkeeper hes
itated, trembling and afraid, they stabbed
him to the heart and he rolled headong TO
the foot of the bridge near by which his
life had been lived.
But Gavin and Arthur Kenyon passed out
to the mountain road, and looking down to
the valley they perceived the fame of
bivouac fires in the wood below, and they
understood Immediately that cavalry had
been sent from Bucharest to their aid and
that the hour of their peril had passed.