"You have put them to flight?"
"It is true, Madame, that but for us they would still be here."
"Excellent young man! The battle must have been terrible!"
"Not so! a battle without tears. I had only to say a word."
"And we are free?"
"Assuredly!"
"We may return to Athens?"
"When it pleases you."
"Oh, well! let us depart at once."
"Impossible, for the moment."
"What would we do here?"
"Our duty to our conquerors; we will guard the battle ground."
"Mary-Ann, give thy hand to Monsieur."
The young English girl obeyed.
"Monsieur," said Mrs. Simons, "it is God who sends you here. We had
lost all hope. Our only protector was a young German of the middle
class, a savant who gathers herbs and who wished to save us by the most
preposterous means. At last, you have come! I was sure that we would be
delivered by the gendarmerie. Is it not so, Mary-Ann?"
"Yes, Mamma."
"Know, Monsieur, that these bandits are the vilest of men. They began by
taking everything from us."
"All?" asked the Captain.
"All, except my watch, which I took the precaution to hide."
"You did well, Madame. And they kept all that they took from you?"
"No, they returned three hundred francs, a silver traveling case and my
daughter's watch."
"These things are still in your possession?"
"Certainly."
"They did not take from you your rings and your ear-rings?"
"No, Monsieur le Capitaine."
"Will you be good enough to give them to me?"
"Give you what?"
"Your rings, your ear-rings, the silver traveling case, two watches and
the sum of three hundred francs."
Mrs. Simons cried out: "What! Monsieur, you would take from us the
articles the bandits returned to us?"