"Pardon, excellency—there are no consequences in the mountains. Let your friend be wise and put up his pistol. We shall shoot him if he does not."
Gavin, doubting the nature of the situation no longer, shrugged his shoulders and invited Kenyon by a gesture to put up his pistol.
"We can do nothing, Arthur, let them have their way."
"I beg your pardon, Gavin; I could make holes in two or three of them."
"It would not help us. They are evidently only agents. Let's hear what the principal has to say."
"Very well, if you think so. It's poor fun, though—almost like shooting sheep in the Highlands. But, of course, I bow to wisdom."
He held out his hands to the gypsy who bound them immediately with a leather thong taken from the saddle-bow of the excellent pony he had ridden. Silently and methodically now, the men secured their prisoners and produced their gyves of heavy rope. To resist would have been just that madness which Gavin named it—and but for Evelyn the scene had been one to jest at.
"Do you treat all your guests at the Castle of Okna in this way?" he asked the leader of the men suddenly.
The reply was delivered with a suavity delightful to hear.
"When they come to us with soldiers and Turks, then we speak plainly to them, excellency."