Page:In times of peril.djvu/140



drivers of the bullock carts were startled at the noiseless appearance by their side of a body of horsemen; still more startled, when suddenly that phantom-like troop halted and dismounted. The rest was like a dream; in an instant they were seized, bound, and gagged, and laid down in the field at some distance from the road; one of them, however, being ungagged and asked a few questions before being finally left. The wounded, all past offering the slightest resistance, were tillstill [sic] more astonished when their captors, whom the moon-light now showed to be white, instead of cutting their throats as they expected, lifted them tenderly and carefully from the wagons and laid them down on a bank a short distance off.

"Swear by the prophet not to call for aid or to speak, should any one pass the road for one hour!" was the oath administered to each, and all who were still conscious swore to observe it. Then with the empty wagons the troops proceeded on their way. At the last clump of trees, a quarter of a mile from the castle, there was another halt. The troop dismounted, led their horses some little distance from the road, and tied them to the trees. Twenty men remained as a guard. Four of the others wrapped themselves up so as to appear at a short distance like natives, and took their places at the