"Then go to the man who is your master, whoever he is, and tell him to come to me here. If either of you two enter this room again without my full permission I will shoot you down like I would a couple of dangerous dogs—now go."
Taking up the lantern which he had set down on the floor on entering the room, the old man made for the door, forcing himself in front of his wife in his anxiety to get clear of the little vixen who could hold a revolver so straight and steady. Teresa gave Galva a long and searching look, then she too followed her craven lord and master.
And Galva gave a little laugh as she found herself alone again. She took the cover from one of the dishes and bent her head over the contents. Whatever could be said of the old dame downstairs Galva noticed with satisfaction that she was no amateur in the art of the kitchen, and the dainty meal was soon eaten with the relish of a healthy fourteen-hour hunger. For the captive told herself that everything depended upon her having the strength to seize any advantage in her position that might occur.
She went again to the open window and looking out judged that she was some twenty-five feet above the ground level, but that below that again ran a moat-like trench, dug perhaps to allow light to the cellars. She thought of the curtains, estimating their length with her eye; they might perhaps reach the twenty-five feet, but there was no way of crossing the trench. True, the portico of the building was only perhaps fifteen feet below her, but it lay some distance to the left and was quite inaccessible.
Galva glanced at the little strap watch on her wrist and saw that it was past ten. From below stairs there came no sound, and she told herself that her jailers had retired for the night, and, again with the view of husbanding her strength, the prisoner prepared to follow their example.
While at supper she had heard the stealthy footsteps again outside her door and the grating of bolts hastily shot into their sockets. It was evident that escape was not to be thought of that night.
The glass of excellent Chianti that she had taken with her meal had quite restored her courage and spirits, and she began to look upon the adventure as rather interesting. It seemed clear to her that whoever was responsible for the outrage meant her no immediate harm, and she had no fear whatever of the old couple down below.
With some little difficulty she piled three of the heavy oak chairs by the door as a precaution against a midnight surprise, and taking off only her outer garments and her shoes, slipped in between the sheets. The fire, which she had replenished from the heap of logs in the grate, shone dully on the rich old furnishings of the room and gave a sense of drowsy comfort and well-being. Candles and matches she found on a little table which she pushed up near the bed. The revolver lay handy underneath her pillow. Miss Galva, in fact, was very comfortable indeed, and had it not been for the thought of her guardian and Anna Paluda and the anxiety they must be feeling, she would have been really happy.
It was broad day when she awoke and the birds in the forest were making merry music. The sun shone in at the windows and gave life to the somewhat sombre apartment. Galva's watch told her it was nine o'clock.
She was feeling remarkably well, her headache had entirely left her, and she was ravenously hungry again. A sound outside the window caused her to slip on her garments and look out. Beneath her the little patch of poor soil that lay between the house and the trees had been, at parts, coaxed into a cultivation of sorts, and the old woman who the night before had brought her supper was gathering some kind of green stuff, putting it into the basket that she carried slung over her arm. From her window, too, the girl could see over the trees to the country beyond—an arid rock-strewn waste and here and there patches of forest land. Away in the distance the range of the Yeldo hills showed a delicate mauve against the morning sky.