Zoe accepted the suggestion in silence, and they went on with their work, interweaving the slanting branches which formed the sides with smaller boughs and twigs. They worked hard most of the day, and talked so little that Eirene found them very dull company. At last she left them in despair, and wandered up the hill towards the rock where the sentry stood, taking care to keep within sight of the clearing. They saw her seat herself on a convenient stone and begin to study the landscape, and then they forgot all about her until an exclamation from her, simultaneously with a shout from the sentry, made them start to their feet and the brigands grasp their rifles.
“Can we have been traced after all?” cried Maurice.
“A day too late!” murmured Zoe. “Oh, if they had only come up with us last night!”
“Well, all our work won’t be much good, for they’ll be sure to hurry us away somewhere else,” said Maurice, noticing that the brigands were hastily cramming their possessions into their sacks. But presently another shout from the sentry, following on a faint hail from the distance, announced that only three men were in sight, and they were friends. Almost at the same moment, Eirene came rushing frantically down the hillside.
“It is himself! I told you so!” she cried. “It is Captain Wylie and two of the brigands. I was sure of it. They were only trying to frighten him, and he is coming back.”
“Oh, let us go and meet him!” cried Zoe.
“Let Maurice go,” said Eirene primly. “Your eyes are so red, Zoe,” she added in a low voice.
“Don’t be Early-Victorian, Eirene,” was the crushing reply. “Do you think I mind his seeing that I cried because I thought he was killed? I should be ashamed if I hadn’t!”
They went down the track in the wake of the brigands, who were jostling one another in mingled surprise, irritation, and alarm. The two members of the band who accompanied Wylie began to pour forth explanations and excuses at the top of their voices long before any words could be clearly distinguished, and while they were seized and cross-examined by their fellows, Wylie was able to reach his friends.
“You haven’t quite done with me yet!” he said, giving one hand to Zoe and the other to Maurice, while Eirene waited for a more ceremonious greeting. “I shall be able to cook one more supper for you before I am sent off.”