e home,
there is a sign between us. I have here an Alpine horn; he has taught me
how to blow upon it, and has told me that if ever I should be in great
danger I must blow it, and however distant he may be, he will hear it
and hasten home.'

"'But it is night now; perhaps he is asleep.'

"'Juon never sleeps at night, he must be awake and protect his herds.'

"'And what then will become of his goats if he leaves them?'

"'Are not I and my child dearer to him than all his property?'

"Then I told Mariora that no time must be lost, and that she should blow
the horn at once. It is a long tube made out of the bark of trees, with
the end tilted upwards, and anyone who knows how to blow it can make its
voice heard for miles. Mariora was too feeble with it. Perhaps at
another time she would have been more up to it, but now she was upset,
there was something which weighed down her bosom and hampered her
breathing: the horn gave forth but a feeble and uncertain sound. We
listened for the echoes and they scarce resounded from the sides of the
adjacent hills. Juon would never hear that. 'Give it to me,' I said. 'I
shall throw more force into it.' A moment after I had blown the horn,
the woody heights repeated the sound just as if there was another
horn-blower there. Presently, from afar, right away among the hills,
another horn replied, just as if there was another echo there. That was
Juon's answer. He had heard the summons; we could now rest content. In
half an hour he would have bounded across the mountains and through the
glens and would be here. In the meantime we would barricade ourselves
inside the hut. Mariora anxiously asked me what we should do if her
husband were the last to arrive, for the robber had firearms. Acting on
my advice, we closed the door with a heavy beam and put out the fire.
The child began to cry, but Mariora took it in her arms and soothed it
to sleep. A heavy groan sounded from a corner of the room: it was the
faithful beast breathing forth his last breath. We exchanged not another
word in order not to betray the fact that Mariora was not alone. Half an
hour had nearly elapsed when we heard footsteps in the distance
approaching. We listened. Who was coming? Which of us would recognize
those footsteps first? I did. It was he! he for whose sake I had brought
down a curse upon my head.

"For about as long a time as it would take one to repeat a Paternoster,
he remained standing there before the door.