The Way of God to prevent me;
The Shield of God to shelter me;
The Hosts of God to defend me—
Against the snares of demons;
Against the temptations of vices;
Against every man who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
With few or with many.”
The words had scarcely left her lips, when through the dark, with the suddenness and the silence of lightning, which the thunder does not precede to warn, but follows, to increase its terror, a band of armed men came on them from the glen behind, folded their plaids around both brother and sister, and with the practised skill of professional pirates, muffled their faces so that not a cry could escape; then bound their limbs with ropes, and swept them away helpless as branches of felled trees. Bran, the dog, made indeed all the noise he could, flew at the throat of one of the band, barked and yelled savagely. One of them tried to drive him away with a club, and another was on the point of cleaving his skull with a battle-axe, when the leader stopped him, saying—
“Let the brute be, he is worth more than either of them; I sold one such once in Rome for well-nigh his weight in gold.”