Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 2.djvu/71

 He is well fed, and seems not to be without strength, my advice is to make him our companion."

"We will, we will," roared the whole troop.

Then their terrible leader resumed, "he must give us to night a specimen of his dexterity."

"He shall, he shall," was the universal cry. I trembled like a wretched culprit who hears his sentence pronounced, when the speaker addressed me thus:

"Fellow! thou hast heard what an honor we have conferred on thee, we expect that thou wilt be faithful to us, oaths are as little valued among robbers, as they are in hell, and a hand-stroke will satisfy us, give me thy right hand as a token of unshaken fidelity."