Thereupon he blessed them all; and coming down from the altar he shook hands with each one, no more as a priest, but as a relation of the murdered youth, and thanked them for the oath they had taken.
The candles having been put out, the door of the church was stealthily opened, and, one by one, all the men crept out and vanished in the darkness of the night.
CHAPTER XX
"SPERA IN DIO"
After the ceremony of the karva tajstvo, all the men who had taken part in it met together at Janko Markovic's house, so as to come to a decision as to what they were to do in their endeavours to capture the murderer. All the information that had been got in Budua about Vranic helped to show that he had embarked on board of an Italian ship, the Diana, which had sailed the evening of the murder. If this were the case, nothing could be done for the present but wait patiently till they could come across him, the communications between Budua and Naples being few and far between.
"Well," said Milenko, "I'll sail at dawn for Trieste. It is one of the best places where I can get some information about this ship. Moreover, I'll do my best to get a cargo for one of the ports to which she might be destined, and I must really be very unlucky not to come across him before the year is out."
"And," replied Janko Markovic, "if our information is wrong—if, after all, he's still lurking in this neighbourhood, or hiding somewhere in Montenegro, we shall soon get at him."
"We have taken the oath," replied all the friends.
"Thank you. I'm sure that Uros' death will very soon be avenged."
Slivovitz and wine were then brought out to drink to the success of the karva tajstvo.