"A little faint," said Oberntraut, slowly; "not much--I shall be better presently, and able to go on."
"Nonsense, nonsense!" exclaimed Algernon Grey, vehemently, "to go on in combat against a man with whom you have no quarrel, who has never injured, insulted, or offended you, who was friendly disposed towards you? My good friend, I will draw the sword against you no more; I have had enough of it."
"Methinks, so have I," said Oberntraut, faintly, with a light smile passing over his face. "You are a master of the science;--that pass was splendid."
"It was the turf!" cried Algernon Grey; "had you not slipped, I should have hardly touched you."
Oberntraut pressed his hand, saying, "If you could stop the bleeding--it is soaking through all my doublet;--you had better call the page."
"I will try to staunch the blood first," answered Algernon Grey; "no time is to be lost--five minutes more and we shall not see the wound;" and, opening the vest and shirt of his opponent, which were now both drenched in blood, he tore his handkerchief in two, making each half into a sort of compress, as he had often before seen the surgeons do, when hurried on the field of battle. He fixed one on the wound before, the other on the aperture behind the shoulder, and with the Baron's scarf and his own, bound them tightly down, stopping the flow of blood, at least in a degree. Then, after gazing at him for a moment or two, he said, "I will leave you only during an instant, and send the page for a litter or something to bear you to the town."
"No, no," answered his former adversary; "send up to the Stift Neuburg, they will take me in and tend me well. Then a surgeon can be brought;--but remember, whatever happens, this is not your fault; it was my own seeking--my own doing,--no one is to be blamed but myself. Methinks the bleeding has stopped."
Algernon Grey hurried away, found the path without difficulty, and ran down towards the road; but the moment his own page saw him coming, he threw the reins of the horses to the other and sprang to meet his master, exclaiming, "Away, my lord, away, or you will not be able to pass. The river is rising rapidly; the water is already upon the road."
"Mind not me," exclaimed Algernon Grey, "but hasten with all speed up to the building there upon the left. Fly, boy, fly! and give notice that there is a gentleman lying wounded in the wood. Beg the people to send down bearers instantly to carry him up thither."
The boy gazed at him with a look of surprise and consternation, and seemed about to ask some question, when Algernon Grey exclaimed, "Away! inquire nothing; his life depends upon your speed."