tched from the river towards the
nearest range of hills, and our horses' footfall on the turf, sodden as
it was by the recent raiu, made hardly a sound. We kept well in shadow,
and had advanced perhaps a couple of miles, when I made out the highway
at a little distance looking like a broad ribbon in the moonlight.
Suddenly a bugle-call shrilled on the air, and while we shrank closer
into the shadow of the trees a tumult of hoof-beats filled the quiet
night, and a whole squadron of cavalry came in sight, riding full tilt
in the direction of the fortress. We could feel the reverberation caused
by the galloping mass beneath us, and in a minute they were out of sight
and almost out of hearing.

"That's a curious thing, sir," said Hinge, speaking almost at my ear.

"What is a curious thing?" I asked.

"That is," he replied, stretching out a hand in the direction of the
vanished body of horsemen. "They've left nobody to guard the roads."

"How do you know that?" I asked, eagerly.

"I counted 'em as they went by," he answered. "There's every mounted man
they've got in the place. They're all there down to the farriers. I'm a
born fool, I am," he added, in an accent of the greatest delight.
"They've never been after us at all, sir. It's a bit of midnight drill.
That's what it is. I'll bet the road's as clear in front of us as ever
it was."

After the fright we had had the news seemed too good to be true, but a
brief consultation decided us to act on Hinge's hope, and to push boldly
forward. We made for the highway, and following it at a road trot found
ourselves breasting the first upward slope of the pass within a quarter
of an hour. By-and-by the hills began to enfold us round, but the moon
rode high and the road was clear and firm. For the first mile or so
we kept an anxious outlook, but as the minutes went on our fears of
interruption grew fainter, and our hopes rose to fever heat. We were all
well mounted, our horses were fresh and full of vigor, and to all but
one of us the ride itself was the merest bagatelle. But I noticed,
riding side by side with the count, that he was reeling in the saddle
like a drunken man, and at one moment he gave such a lurch towards me
that if I had not been at hand to support him he would have fallen to
the ground.

"I am weak," he said, as I checked his horse and mine. "It is no wonder.
I am surprised that I have come as far."

He spoke with a gasping voice as if in pain, and with one