h moment, and at last
he was conscious that somebody had crawled towards his feet and was
passing a cord about them. In vain he sought to kick out and
release himself; the next minute the cord was pulled tight. His
feet were jerked from beneath him, he fell backwards heavily, and
for some time he knew no more.

When he opened his eyes once again, he found himself sitting
propped up against the rocks, his arms tightly pinioned to his
sides, and his feet still encumbered by cords; whilst at a little
distance sat his assailants in a ring, eating and drinking, and
making merry together.

One had a bandaged head, and another had his arm in a rude sling.
But the guide had come in for the worst of Tom's blows, and lay all
his length along the ground, stiff and dead.

Tom smiled a grim sort of smile. He suspected that the same fate
would shortly be his, but nevertheless he did not pity the
unfaithful peasant. If he had acted loyally by the man he professed
to serve, this ill would scarcely have befallen him. He had met his
punishment somewhat more swiftly than is usual.

The men talked in French, and too fast for Tom to catch a word of
their meaning; but when they saw that his eyes were open, and that
he was watching them, they laughed and nodded at him, and by-and-by
one brought him food and a cup of wine, and Tom felt mightily
refreshed thereby.

Then they looked up at the sky, and at the sun which had some time
since passed its meridian, and began to make ready to depart. Tom
was half afraid at first that they, having robbed him of his
despatches, were going to leave him helplessly bound here amongst
the snow, to perish of cold and starvation. But when they were all
in readiness they unbound his feet, and bid him rise and come with
them. Indeed, he had no option in this matter, for one of them held
the end of the cord which bound his arms, and drove him on in front
as men drive unruly cattle.

Tom felt giddy and stiff, but he scorned to show weakness; and it
was less trying to descend the pass than to ascend it, although the
rough walking with tightly-bound arms was more difficult than he
had fancied, and several times he tripped and fell heavily, unable
to save himself.

He was, therefore, very bruised and sore and weary when at last he
found that they were approaching the little hut he had left early
that same morning. But amid all his weariness and pain, and the
peril of his position, he felt, with a thrill of