"Then Dorlat, my big brother, came down the stair, and spied the ghost, and he gave one cry, and fled out through the broken door, and after him came Hervitz, and also two others. And for a short space I followed them, gliding in my white robe through the wood, and howling to speed their flight. Then I returned, leaving the sheet in the house, and came hither to you. So, Blonda, I am no liar; nay, and if poor Freskel was God's angel to you when he led you forth, he is no less so now that he has chased the evil-doers from your home."
"Forgive me, my poor Freskel," cried Blonda, penitently. "Thou hast done nobly, and we can never thank thee enough."
"It is well; I go now to the pastor," said the youth, "and tell him all—all—save only one thing; but that is poor Freskel's secret. Poor Freskel? No, not poor! Rich Freskel—but a secret! A secret! Where did I hear those words: 'A bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter'? Did the pastor read them in the church? I know not—I know not, but I hope they are not true."
And the youth moved slowly away, a dreamy, absorbed expression in his face and a strange light in his eyes.
The children went home, and found the whole house in confusion, the intruders having turned everything upside down in their search for the money. But Tonie managed to barricade the broken door with some of the kitchen furniture, and Blonda hung an old quilt before her smashed window.
Then the young folk went to bed, and slept peacefully on far into the morning.
[CHAPTER V]
A COUNCIL OF WAR
THE next day, the whole of Carfoos was up in arms, for though Freskel had told no one but Pastor Oshart that his brother were concerned in the night attack on the woodcutter's cottage, Dorlat and Hervitz were held in such ill repute, that as soon as the news reached the village that Grubert Reuss' house had been forcibly entered, suspicion had at once fallen upon them. Indeed, so vehement in their indignation were the villagers that the old pastor could hardly restrain them from making a raid upon the dwelling of the Valdens, and laying violent hands upon the two young men and upon their father also, for Jaspar Valden was accounted no better than his sons, though, being seldom abroad, he was not so well-known by sight.