"Death to the spy!" cried the Greeks.
Two of the brigands fell upon him, one on each side, when lo! there was a double explosion, and with loud cries of pain, each fell back dead.
The rest of the brigands now began to recover from the state of stupefaction into which this sudden and unexpected attack had thrown them, and accustomed to rapid action upon emergencies such as the present, they prepared to fall simultaneously upon this ancient Tartar.
"Oh, oh! What, you think to capture me, do you?" he cried.
In an instant all his feebleness had dropped, and lo! he appeared a very nimble man.
Springing back about six feet, he drew both hands from those capacious pockets to which we recently drew the reader's attention, and then the mystery was revealed.
Each had held a six-barrelled revolver.
"How like you my music, you ruffians?" cried the strange man. "Oh, what would I give if my poor friend Pike was with me now!"
Bang!
Another shot, and another hors de combat.