"That won't do," objected the old hussar, "because then we can't burn it behind us."
"Right, Paul; we must set it on fire as soon as we are over. Perhaps we can find some tar in the mill."
A whole barrel of tar was discovered after some search, and a portion of it poured over the bridge. Now, however, the horses were more recalcitrant than before; their hoofs slipped on the tarred boards, and the hollow sound given back by the frail bridge served to increase their fear.
Old Paul swore like a heathen. "Here we are caught in a pretty trap," said he.
"Oh, no," replied Richard, reassuringly. "We two must dismount, and one of us lead the horses by the bridle while the other urges them on from behind. The riders will stay in their saddles."
It was a task, indeed, to get all the rearing, plunging, and thoroughly frightened animals, one after another, over the shaky bridge. The riders cursed, old Paul invoked all the saints in the calendar, and Richard plied his whip with an unsparing hand, until, at last, the passage was accomplished. It had been attended with so much noise, however, that no human ear within miles around could have failed to hear it.
Before long a signal-fire blazed up on the hill from which the fugitives had noted the beacon-lights. Thus far, then, their pursuers had tracked them, and no doubt they would be about their ears in a few minutes. Richard and Paul were bathed in perspiration, and there were still thirty led horses to be driven over the bridge.
"I hear a trumpet behind us," said one of the men; "wouldn't it be best to leave the extra horses and each man look out for himself?"
"No," said Richard; "there must not be a single horse left behind. Let no one ride on until every horse is over."
His order was obeyed, and not a man stirred from the spot until all the reserve horses were across the bridge. By that time the trumpet notes were very near, and the white mantles of the pursuing horsemen could be discerned in the darkness. Richard gave Paul a whispered order, whereupon the old hussar disappeared with two companions. Then the bridge was heaped with dry brushwood, the rest of the tar poured over it, and the whole set on fire. As the flames shot upward the one band of horsemen could see the other, face to face. Richard swung himself into his saddle, and ordered his men to move forward, carefully, over the narrow dike and down the ravine. He himself remained behind until all had preceded him.