They spoke in whispers. How was the car to be removed without discovery? There was no time to lose. The men in the upper floor might waken; there would be no wakening for the guard in the room below. Marko stole to the corner of the house. Between the house and the camp fire a number of horses were tethered. They cast a shadow on the spot where the gyro-car rested against the wall. Marko beckoned, and George joined him. After a moment’s hesitation they crept round on all fours, placed themselves one on each side of the car, and wheeled it silently round the corner to the side of the house, and thence to the back.
“Come with us,” said Giulika.
He led the way through the trees, up a steep path in the hill-side. Maurice helped George and two other men to wheel the car. It was a rocky path; there were frequent stumbles in the darkness, and they shivered lest the slight sounds they made should reach the ears of the men encamped below, who were not all asleep. The hum of voices rose and fell.
After a few minutes the slow procession halted, and Giulika offered a gourd full of sour milk to the famished Englishmen, of which they drank greedily.
“Long life to you!” said the old man cheerily. “My honour is clean, and only one man is dead.”
“Could we not have gagged and bound him?” said Maurice.
“The other was the shorter way,” said Giorgio. “He might have waked while I cut your bonds, and made a sound.”
“And we had to think of our honour,” added his grandfather.
Maurice did not reply. Honour has different meanings in different places.
They went on again. The moon was set, and the stars gave little light. Following a winding gorge between two almost perpendicular cliffs, George thought that there would be no danger in lighting his lamp. By its bright flame they were able to see the way, and marched more quickly. Giulika went first, behind him came the Bucklands, with four men wheeling the car; the rear was brought up by the rest of the company, to keep a watch over the backward track. Maurice drew out his watch; it was nearly one o’clock. They had three or four hours until dawn, and Giulika said they must travel as far as possible before sunrise. The car had probably left a track by which the direction of their flight would be discovered. There were few dwellers in these mountain solitudes, but someone might see them when daylight came, and the passage of so strange a vehicle would almost certainly be announced from hill to hill by shouts.