“Come,” I said to her; and seeing we were both so earnest, she gave way and we started.
We rode slowly and in silence down the ravine until we reached the mouth of it, and made such speed as we could down the mountain road.
“There’s a lot I want to ask; but as the easiest pace for me is a canter, and as it’s the safest for us all just now, we’ll hurry. We can talk afterwards,” I said when we reached the level; and I urged my horse on until we were cantering briskly, the old dog loping along close to me and looking up constantly as though he was fully conscious that something was very much amiss with me calling for the utmost vigilance and guardianship on his part.
CHAPTER VIII.
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE NIGHT.
We did not slacken speed until we had put some miles between us and the camp; and although at first I suffered abominable torture from the jolting, I had to keep on, and after a time I found that the rush of the cool air, acting as a kind of stimulating tonic revived me. My head became gradually less painful and my brain cleared.
If we had only been certain of our road I should have had no serious misgivings as to the result. We were all well mounted, and although the horses were not fresh, yet they were quite fit to carry us the distance we had to travel to reach the railway. But I could only guess the road, picking the way by the compass; and in that difficult and barren district there was a constant risk that we should lose the way, especially as we should have to ride through the night.
It was almost evening when we left the camp, and my intention was to ride as far and as fast as possible while the daylight lasted and then rest until the moon rose. We should then have six or seven hours to ride before even the earliest peasants would be astir, and in that time I calculated we should be able to reach the frontier town of Samac, the terminus of the line.
The overpowering reason for travelling at night was the fear that some attempt would be made at pursuit. If Petrov and Gartski succeeded in bringing any considerable party back to the camp from Lalwor, they would learn from the men there of the reward to be paid for getting Mademoiselle to Maglai; and for any such sum as three thousand gulden the average Bosnian peasant would leave all he had in the world and go scrambling for a share of it. And with greed to back up the superstitious abhorrence of witchcraft, there was no telling what would be done.
We were a party easily tracked, too. Two wounded men, a woman, and a huge hound like Chris would be readily remembered if once seen anywhere at any time; and the night was thus the safest for us.
I kept all these thoughts to myself, however, and pushed on as fast as practicable, although both Mademoiselle and Karasch urged me more than once to halt and rest.