“Alone? no. It is nervous work enough with a friend. I have not slept all night. Let me come with you and meet my danger in the open if it has to be met.”
“You don’t value Rallenstein’s assurance, then?”
“I am quite sure my life would not be worth twenty-four hours’ purchase in Buyda.”
“Then come, and the sooner we start the better. I fear there is not much to be done, but we shall at least be company for each other. How far is the Geierthal from here?”
“Not much more than thirty miles.”
“Then I propose we make an early start, take a long rest by the way, and get to the place towards evening. We can best reconnoitre after dark.”
After a substantial breakfast, we hurriedly made preparations for having some necessary baggage sent to us under an assumed name at Carlzig, the nearest town to the Geierthal, provided ourselves each with a serviceable revolver and a bag of cartridges, and set out. Guns and fishing-rods were to be sent after us, our ostensible reason for the excursion being sport, which abounded in those regions.
On our way we turned aside to the house of the village priest, whom Lindheim requested to take in hand the arrangements for the funeral of poor Szalay. The priest had been an old friend of Lindheim’s father, so could be trusted with the true explanation of Szalay’s sudden death, and the necessity of our departure. He promised to receive any of the family as Lindheim’s representative, and to act in the whole matter as his discretion might dictate.
This settled, we rode on; but before leaving the village a suspicious curiosity impelled me to turn aside for a few minutes and to climb the rocks, the scene of my narrow escape two days before. With some difficulty I succeeded in mounting to the brow whence the great mass had been dislodged. For my idea now was that this fall had not been accidental, and it needed only a cursory glance to confirm that suspicion. The rock had evidently been bored, and the upper part cleft and hurled down by an explosive, a small charge having probably, from its over-hanging position, sufficed to effect its dislodgment. So sure of impunity had my would-be murderers obviously considered themselves, that they had not troubled in any way to remove the evidences of their design. My feeling now was almost one of indifference, since this was only another proof of what we knew well—the cunning, relentless malignity with which we were being pursued.
Thus satisfied, I quickly rejoined Von Lindheim, and we soon had left the village far behind us. After that we slackened our speed, taking frequent rests, and, as we had planned, towards evening found ourselves in a little hamlet about a mile from the Monastery of the Geierthal. We were more lucky than we anticipated in finding a fairly comfortable roadside inn, where we took up our quarters and ordered dinner. While the meal was preparing I went out for a stroll along the valley to see if a glimpse was to be had of the Monastery.