The question was hardly out of Dick's mouth before it was answered by another screeching, "A moi! a moi!"
The call did not come from anywhere about the hut, but from outside and somewhere in the timber.
"This way, Dick!" shouted Matt, and rushed out of the hut.
"A moi! a moi!"
The call was again repeated, and the two boys, guiding themselves by the call, flung up the slight slope and darted in among the trees.
"Careful, matey!" panted Dick, from close behind his comrade. "There's no telling what sort of a jolly mess we're running into. Better dowse that light—it'll be safer; besides, I can see the gleam of a lantern ahead, there, through the trees."
"I just caught a sight of that myself, Dick," answered Matt, in a low voice. "Your suggestion about the torch is good," and Matt dropped the blazing fagot and crushed out the fire with his foot. "Now, then," he finished, "we'll go on, and go quietly."
A dozen yards, perhaps, brought the boys to a spot from which they could behold a scene that caused their pulses to leap.
An old crone was bound to a cypress stump, and beside her stood a man with a lithe switch.