d to talk in whispers), "it is not
possible to endure this suspense. I prefer death fifty times over. Stay
you here to watch the pavilion; I will go forward and make sure, if I
have to walk right into their camp."

He looked once again all round him with puckered eyes, and then nodded
assentingly to my proposal.

My heart beat like a sledge-hammer as I set out walking rapidly in the
direction of the smoke; and, though up to that moment I had felt chill
and shivering, I was suddenly conscious of a glow of heat over all my
body. The ground in this direction was very uneven; a hundred men might
have lain hidden in as many square yards about my path. But I had not
practised the business in vain, chose such routes as cut at the very
root of concealment, and, by keeping along the most convenient ridges,
commanded several hollows at a time. It was not long before I was
rewarded for my caution. Coming suddenly on to a mound somewhat more
elevated than the surrounding hummocks, I saw, not thirty yards away, a
man bent almost double, and running as fast as his attitude permitted
along the bottom of a gully. I had dislodged one of the spies from his
ambush. As soon as I sighted him, I called loudly both in English and
Italian; and he, seeing concealment was no longer possible, straightened
himself out, leaped from the gully, and made off as straight as an arrow
for the borders of the wood.

It was none of my business to pursue; I had learned what I wanted--that
we were beleaguered and watched in the pavilion; and I returned at once,
and walking as nearly as possible in my old footsteps, to where
Northmour awaited me beside the despatch-box. He was even paler than
when I had left him, and his voice shook a little.

"Could you see what he was like?" he asked.

"He kept his back turned," I replied.

"Let us get into the house, Frank. I don't think I'm a coward, but I can
stand no more of this," he whispered.

All was still and sunshiny about the pavilion as we turned to re-enter
it; even the gulls had flown in a wider circuit, and were seen
flickering along the beach and sand-hills; and this loneliness terrified
me more than a regiment under arms. It was not until the door was
barricaded that I could draw a full inspiration and relieve the weight
that lay upon my bosom. Northmour and I exchanged a steady glance; and I
suppose each made his own reflections on the white and startled aspect
of the other.

"You were right," I s