There was one thing which Carruthers had told me that gave me considerable uneasiness; it was that my stepfather did not seem as well as his wont. This upset me, for I had never known him anything but splendidly well. I seemed to feel him near me in the night; perhaps at that moment he was talking of us, who knows? The darkness made me strangely fanciful, but presently I too was asleep.
The next morning I woke very early, and found that we had an addition to our party, a man, hump-backed, and rather evil looking.
Piotr explained that he had overtaken us at about midnight, and, as he was tired, had asked permission to use our fire.
I spoke a few words to the fellow, telling him that he could have some food if he liked, and then woke the others.
Our ablutions were performed in a small stream that gurgled and spluttered a few yards away; then, having had our breakfast, we once more started.
This time our order was reversed, the two men and the horse being behind; while we three tramped cheerfully on, glorying in the fresh morning air which had the effect of champagne upon our spirits.
Two or three miles from our halting place of the night, we came to a piece of road only some seven or eight feet wide.
On one side the ground sloped steeply up, covered with great masses of rock and stones; on the other was a sheer drop of some hundreds of feet into a thickly wooded valley.
Carruthers suddenly took it into his head that he was a mountain goat, and went springing madly down the path, disappearing in a few moments round a curve.
Mr. Neville had just made some laughing remark about his being almost inclined to follow, when without any reason apparently, a stone came rushing down from above us.