“Bravo, doctor! Your medicine has given me heart. Row? Yes. I can do it now till my arms refuse to stir.” And on the boat glided, kept closer to the shore where the eddies played and the full force of the stream was missed.
And then on and on hour after hour, with a few intervals of rest where the waters whispered and they made fast to some overhanging bough and spent the minutes thinking that horsemen might be near, scouring the country where they could approach the banks on either side to cut off the fugitives, though not a sound was heard.
And so on till day broke and they made fast amongst the trees in the most secluded place they came to, not daring to expose themselves where they might be seen.
They had no trouble with the King, for, weak with his wound and half stupefied by the drug Leoni had administered, he slept on hour after hour through the pleasant morning and through the heat of noon, his resting-place quite cool beneath the shadowing trees and with his brow fanned by the soft summer breeze. He did not even stir when, kneeling in the boat, Leoni moistened and drew off the bandages to dress his wound, washing them in the stream and drying them in a patch where the hot sun heated the bows of the boat, but still slept on as if restful and comforted by the chirurgeon’s skilful hands.
“Better or worse?” whispered Saint Simon, while the task was in progress.
“Better, boy, and healing fast. He will sleep for hours yet, and waken quite himself towards evening; but then,” added the doctor, with a sigh, “we have another difficulty to face, if we are not taken.”
“Ah! What’s that?” cried Saint Simon quickly, and Leoni smiled sardonically, making his companion wince at the peculiar look in his eyes.
“I was thinking, boy,” he said, “of how you are going to spread the white napkins and the silver cups for our master’s banquet, for he will be hungry, ravenous, after his long fast. You see, he may be displeased to find the banquet cold.”
Saint Simon stared at him with open eyes and mouth.
“Why, you are laughing at me,” he said.