fenceless, who commit brutal
outrages upon the persons of women and children, deserve naught but
death. Let them fight like men; we will slay them in fair fight, but we
will give no quarter. We will, if God fights for us, sweep the carrion
brood from off the very face of the earth!"

And then, to the dismay of the Master Huntsman, who had hoped to step
upon the sleeping sentries unawares, and rid themselves of at least two
of the foe before the alarm was given, the Prince raised his voice in a
shrill battle cry, and dashing down the slope with his comrades at his
heels, flung himself upon the taller of the guards and plunged his knife
into the fellow's throat.

Gaston and Raymond had simultaneously sprung upon the other, and with a
sharp cry of astonishment and rage he too fell lifeless to the ground.

But the Prince's shout, the man's cry, and the sound of clashing arms
aroused from their deep slumbers the robber crew within the cavern, and
with the alertness that comes of such a lawless life, every man of them
sprang to his feet and seized his weapon almost before he was awake.

The Master Huntsman, however, had not waited to see the end of the
struggle upon the platform outside. At the very moment that the Prince
buried his weapon in the sentry's throat, this bold fellow, with three
of his underlings at his side, had sprung inside the cave itself, and
luckily enough it was upon the prostrate figure of the chief of the band
that his eye first lighted. Before the man could spring to his feet, a
blow from that long shining knife had found its way to his heart. The
other hunters had set each upon his man, and taken unawares, those
attacked were slain ere they had awakened sufficiently to realize what
was happening. Thus the number had been diminished by six before the
rest came swarming out, as bees from a disturbed hive.

It was well indeed then for the brave boys, who had thought themselves
the match for armed men, that these latter were dazed with deep
potations and but half armed after throwing aside their weapons ere
lying down to rest. Well was it also that they had amongst them the
Master Huntsman and his trusty satellites, who had the strength of men,
as well as the trained eye, quick hand, and steady nerve that belong to
their calling in life. Then, again, the dress of these huntsmen was so
like in character to that worn by many of the band, that the robbers
themselves suspected each other of treachery, and