By this time he had been recognised as the man who had routed a whole Turkish company, and was greeted with a laugh and a loud cheer, as the men turned away and ran to effect some other work of destruction.
“Now, my fine fellow,” said Lancey, opening the door and entering. “You’ll ’ave to defend yourself, for I’m neither a friend o’ the Turk nor the Rooshian. They’re fools, if not worse, both of ’em, in my opinion; but one good turn desarves another, so now you an’ I are quits. Adoo!”
Hurrying out of the house, Lancey picked up a Russian cap and greatcoat as he ran, and put them on, having a vague perception that they might help to prevent his being made prisoner.
He was right. At all events, in the confusion of the moment, he passed through the village, and escaped unnoticed into a neighbouring thicket, whence he succeeded in retiring altogether beyond the range of the assailed position.
Chapter Seventeen.
In which some Desperate Enterprises are Undertaken.
At this time the Russians had taken up a strong position in the Balkan mountain range, and entrenched themselves within a short distance of the enemy.
After a night and a day of aimless wandering, Jacob Lancey found himself at last in a rocky defile between the hostile lines. How he got there he could not tell, but there he was, in a position of imminent danger, with the sentinels of the belligerent armies on either side of him.