I questioned the man whom I was walking beside.
"Ah, your Excellency, it is strange to you, but has a different significance to us; we to whom that land yielded a livelihood have been driven to other ways of making one. Our harvests--good or bad, as the good God decided--were taken from us in payment of taxes, which were so great that even the whole year's profit would not pay them. So--what would you? I, myself, worked ten years on the land my father and grandfather had owned. But every year the burden grew greater; and, as on the last occasion I could not pay the collector, he drove off my animals, such as they were, and would have taken me to prison only I stuck my knife into him and fled."
He told me this quite calmly. He had most probably killed the collector, but it evidently struck him as a justifiable deed, and in my heart of hearts I could not altogether blame him. It gave me an inkling of what the treatment of peasants was like, under the rule of this man who starved his soldiers and squandered their pay on courtesans.
A little farther on, we were informed that the time had come for them to blindfold us; and there being no opposition they proceeded to do so. With our eyes covered we were led forward again for a while, and then the climb began. Our hands were placed in niches, or our feet guided to some rock or projection, as, without mishap or inconvenience, we clambered up and up, until once more our feet were on a pathway. Another longish walk, a sharp turn, and then we were halted, and the bandages which prevented our seeing taken away.
I stood absolutely amazed, blinking my eyes to find out whether I was really awake or dreaming, for we were in a place that no one could ever have dreamed existed. It was like an enormous cup scooped out of the mountain, and its sides must have been a couple of hundred feet high. The diameter of the cup seemed over a mile; a more perfect hiding-place it would have been impossible to conceive. There was one part covered with fine trees, another splendid pasture, upon which were numerous cattle and sheep, while a small stream wandered across the whole length of the place, providing a good water supply. On our right stood some fifteen wooden houses, substantially built, with patches of vegetable gardens in front of each.
This much I took in with my first bewildered glance.
"Well, I'm damned!" said Carruthers.
"So am I!" said I.
"In fact we all are!" said Mr. Neville sagely.
The litter had by now been carried down through the narrow fissure through which we had entered, and a host of people came running from the houses and fields; people of all ages and both sexes. They surrounded us with looks far from amiable, until the nominal leader explained our presence to their satisfaction, and incidentally to ours. I had a busy time, for I believe they would all have embraced me. One did, but as she turned out to be the betrothed wife of Piotr, she was forgiven; she was a dashed fine looking girl too, so very attractive that Carruthers grumbled, and murmured that he had wanted to save Piotr himself.