"Pray, how can your highness proceed? You have no guide, no driver, no
escort," said the man, mockingly. Beverly looked at him appealingly,
utterly without words to reply. The tears were welling to her eyes and
her heart was throbbing like that of a captured bird. In after life she
was able to picture in her mind's eye all the details of that tableau in
the mountain pass--the hopeless coach, the steaming horses, the rakish
bandit, and his picturesque men, the towering crags, and a mite of a
girl facing the end of everything.
"Your highness is said to be brave, but even your wonderful courage can
avail nothing in this instance," said the leader, pleasantly. "Your
escort has fled as though pursued by something stronger than shadows;
your driver has deserted; your horses are half-dead; you are indeed, as
you have said, powerless. And you are, besides all these, in the
clutches of a band of merciless cutthroats."
"Oh," moaned Beverly, suddenly leaning against the fore wheel, her eyes
almost starting from her head. The leader laughed quietly--yes,
good-naturedly. "Oh, you won't--you won't kill us?" She had time to
observe that there were smiles on the faces of all the men within the
circle of light.
"Rest assured, your highness," said the leader, leaning upon his
rifle-barrel with careless grace, "we intend no harm to you. Every man
you meet in Graustark is not a brigand, I trust, for your sake. We are
simple hunters, and not what we may seem. It is fortunate that you have
fallen into honest hands. There is someone in the coach?" he asked,
quickly alert. A prolonged groan proved to Beverly that Aunt Fanny had
screwed up sufficient courage to look out of the window.
"My old servant," she half whispered. Then, as several of the men
started toward the door: "But she is old and wouldn't harm a
fly. Please, please don't hurt her."
"Compose yourself; she is safe," said the leader. By this time it was
quite dark. At a word from him two or three men lighted lanterns. The
picture was more weird than ever in the fitful glow. "May I ask, your
highness, how do you intend to reach Edelweiss in your present
condition. You cannot manage those horses, and besides, you do not know
the way."
"Aren't you going to rob us?" demanded Beverly, hope springing to the
surface with a joyful bound. The stranger laughed heartily, and shook
his head.
"Do we not look like honest men?" he cried, with a wave of his hand
toward his companions. Beverly looked dubious. "We live the good, clean
life of the wilderness. Out-door life is necessary for our health. We
could not live in the city," he went on with grim humor. For the first
time, Beverly noticed that he wore a huge black patch over his left eye,
held in place by a cord. He appeared more formidable than ever under the
light of critical inspection.