“Impossible!” said Blood, coolly.
“Yes, they are; and here,” she said, “is part of a broken sword. How came all this? Nay, do not hurry me onward. I tremble—my feet refuse to walk, for I fear something horrible may obstruct my path.”
“Nonsense! nonsense, fair creature!” said Blood. “If anything has happened it is all the doings of that horrible band of Skeletons. Nothing more. If you wish to escape yourself, follow my advice at once.”
“I will, I will,” said Ellen Harmer, trembling in every limb.
She and the colonel had crossed half of the bridge when both suddenly stopped.
“What was that?” said the miller’s daughter, looking pale as death. “What voice was that?”
“Oh, nothing, nothing, fair one; ’twas only the murmuring of the wind among the oziers on the river bank, or perhaps the babbling waters. Come, quickly, I say!”
“Oh, help! murder!” sighed a voice near by among the ozier bushes.
“D—nation!” growled Blood, half to himself, “that lout is still alive! Would for a thousand crowns he were dead! Come, lassie, think no more of it; it was your imagination only, nothing else, I assure you.”
“Oh, help!” sighed the voice again, faintly. “Ellen Harmer, I am dying! Beware of the courtly villain! Help!”