RECRUITING THEIR FUNDS.
As soon as Gerald Burke began conversing with the merchants, Geoffrey
fell back and took his place among their servants, with whom he at once
entered into conversation. To amuse himself he continued in the same
strain that he had heard Gerald adopt towards the merchants, and spoke
in terms of apprehension of the dangers of the journey, and of the
rough treatment that had befallen those who had ventured to offer
opposition to the robbers. He was not long in discovering, by the
anxious glances they cast round them, and by the manner of their
questions, that some at least of the party were not to be relied upon
in case of an encounter.
He was rather surprised at Gerald remaining so long in company with the
merchants, for their pace was a slow one, as they were followed by
eight heavily-laden mules, driven by two muleteers, and it would have
been much pleasanter, he thought, to have trotted on at their usual
pace. About midday, as they were passing along the edge of a thick
wood, a party of men suddenly sprang out and ordered them to halt.
Geoffrey shouted to the men with him to come on, and drawing his sword
dashed forward.
Two of the men only followed him. The others hesitated, until a shot
from a musket knocked off one of their hats, whereupon the man and his
comrades turned their horses' heads and rode off at full speed. The
merchants had drawn their swords, and stood on the defensive, and
Geoffrey on reaching them was surprised to find that Gerald Burke was
sitting quietly on his horse without any apparent intention of taking
part in the fight.
"Put up your sword, Geoffrey," he said calmly; "this affair is no
business of ours. We have nothing to lose, and it is no business of
ours to defend the money-bags of these gentlemen."
The robbers, eight in number, now rushed up. One of the merchants,
glancing round, saw that two of their men only had come up to their
assistance. The muleteers, who were probably in league with the
robbers, had fled, leaving their animals standing in the road. The
prospect seemed desperate. One of the merchants was an elderly man, the
others were well on middle age. The mules were laden with valuable
goods, and they had with them a considerable sum of money for making
purchases at Cadiz. It was no time for hesitation.
"We will give you five hundred crowns if you will both aid us to beat
off these robbers."
"It is a bargain," Gerald replied. "Now, Geoffrey, have at these
fellows!"
Leaping from their ponies they ranged themselves by the merchants just
as the robbers attacked them. Had it not been for their aid the combat
would have been a short one; for although determined to defend their
property to the last, the traders had neither strength nor skill at
arms. One was unhorsed at the first blow, and another wounded; but the
two servants, who had also dismounted, fought sturdily, and Gerald and
Geoffrey each disposed of a man before the robbers, who had not
reckoned upon their interference, were prepared to resist their attack.
The fight did not last many minutes. The traders did their best, and
although by no means formidable opponents, distracted the attention of
the robbers, who were startled by the fall of two of their party.
Geoffrey received a sharp cut on the head, but at the same moment ran
his opponent through the body, while Gerald Burke cut down the man
opposed to him. The other four robbers, seeing they were now
outnumbered, at once took to their heels.
"By St. Jago!" one of the traders said, "you are stout fighters, young
men, and have won your fee well. Methought we should have lost our
lives as well as our goods, and I doubt not we should have done so had
you not ranged yourselves with us. Now, let us bandage up our wounds,
for we have all received more or less hurt."
When the wounds, some of which were serious, were attended to, the
fallen robbers were examined. Three of them were dead; but the man last
cut down by Gerald Burke seemed likely to recover.
"Shall we hang him upon a tree as a warning to these knaves, or shall
we take him with us to the next town and give him in charge of the
authorities there?" one of the traders asked.
"If I were you I would do neither," Gerald said, "but would let him go
free if he will tell you the truth about this attack. It will be just
as well for you to get to the bottom of this affair, and find out
whether it is a chance meeting, or whether any of your own people have
been in league with him."
"That is a good idea," the trader agreed, "and I will carry it out,"
and going up to the man, who had now recovered his senses, he said to
him sternly: "We have made up our minds to hang you; but you may save
your life if you will tell us how you came to set upon us. Speak the
truth and you shall go free, otherwise we will finish with you without
delay."
The robber, seeing an unexpected chance of escape from punishment, at
once said that the captain of their band, who was the man Geoffrey had
last run through, came out from Seville the evening before, and told
him that one Juan Campos, with whom he had long had intimate relations,
and who was clerk to a rich trader, had, upon promise that he should
receive one-fifth of the booty taken, informed him that his master with
two other merchants was starting on the following morning for Cadiz
with a very valuable lot of goods, and twenty-five thousand crowns,
which they intended to lay out in the purchase of goods brought by some
galleons that had just arrived from the Indies. He had arranged to
bribe his master's two servants to ride away when they attacked the
gang, and also to settle with the muleteers so that they should take no
part in the affair. They had reckoned that the flight of two of the
servants would probably affect the others, and had therefore expected
the rich booty to fall into their hands without the trouble of striking
a blow for it.
"It is well we followed your suggestion," one of the traders said to
Gerald. "I had no suspicion of the honesty of my clerk, and had we not
made this discovery he would doubtless have played me a similar trick
upon some other occasion. I will ride back at once, friends, for if he
hears of the failure of the attack he may take the alarm and make off
with all he can lay his hands upon. Our venture was to be in common. I
will leave it to you to carry it out, and return and dismiss Campos and
the two rascally servants." The three traders went apart and consulted
together. Presently the eldest of the party returned to the young men.
"We have another five days' journey before us," he said, "and but two
servants upon whom we can place any reliance. We have evidence of the
unsafety of the roads, and, as you have heard, we have a large sum of
money with us. You have already more than earned the reward I offered
you, and my friends have agreed with me that if you will continue to
journey with us as far as Cadiz, and to give us the aid of your valour
should we be again attacked, we will make the five hundred crowns a
thousand. It is a large sum, but we have well-nigh all our fortunes at
stake, and we feel that we owe you our lives as well as the saving of
our money."
"We could desire nothing better," Gerald replied, "and will answer with
our lives that your goods and money shall arrive safely at Cadiz."
The traders then called up their two serving-men, and told them that on
their arrival at Cadiz they would present them each with a hundred
crowns for having so stoutly done their duty. The employer of the
treacherous clerk then turned his horse's head and rode back towards
Seville, while the others prepared to proceed on their way. The two
muleteers had now come out from among the bushes, and were busy
refastening the bales on the mules, the ropes having become loosened in
the struggles of the animals while the fight was going on. The
merchants had decided to say nothing to the men as to the discovery
that they were in league with the robbers.
"Half these fellows are in alliance with these bands, which are a
scourge to the country," one of the traders said. "If we were to inform
the authorities at the next town, we should, in the first place, be
blamed for letting the wounded man escape, and secondly we might be
detained for days while investigations are going on. In this country
the next worse thing to being a prisoner is to be a complainant. Law is
a luxury in which the wealthy and idle can alone afford to indulge."
As soon, therefore, as the baggage was readjusted the party proceeded
on their way.
"What do you think of that, Geoffrey?" Gerald Burke asked as he rode
for a short distance by the side of his supposed servant.
"It is magnificent," Geoffrey replied; "and it seems to me that the
real road to wealth in Spain is to hire yourself out as a guard to
travellers."
"Ah, you would not get much if you made your bargain beforehand. It is
only at a moment of urgent danger that fear will open purse-strings
widely. Had we bargained beforehand with these traders we might have
thought ourselves lucky if we had got ten crowns apiece as the price of
our escort to Cadiz, and indeed we should have been only too glad if
last night such an offer had been made to us; but when a man sees that
his property and life are really in danger he does not stop to haggle,
but is content to give a handsome percentage of what is risked for aid
to save the rest."
"Well, thank goodness, our money trouble is at an end," Geoffrey said;
"and it will be a long time before we need have any anxiety on that
score."
"Things certainly look better," Gerald said laughing; "and if Inez
consents to make a runaway match of it with me I sha'n't have to ask
her to pay the expenses."
Cadiz was reached without further adventure. The merchants kept their
agreement honourably, and handed over a heavy bag containing a thousand
crowns to Gerald on their arrival at that city. They had upon the road
inquired of him the nature of his business there. He had told them that
he was at present undecided whether to enter the army, in which some
friends of his had offered to obtain him a commission, or to join in an
adventure to the Indies. They had told him they were acquainted with
several merchants at Cadiz who traded both with the east and west, and
that they would introduce him to them as a gentleman of spirit and
courage, whom they might employ with advantage upon such ventures; and
this promise after their arrival there they carried out.
"Now, Geoffrey," Gerald said as they sat together that evening at a
comfortable inn, "we must talk over matters here. We have five hundred
crowns apiece, and need not trouble any longer as to how we are to
support life. Your great object, of course, is to get out of this
country somehow, and to make your way back to England. My first is to
see Inez and find out whether she will follow my fortunes or remain to
become some day Marchesa of Sottomayor. If she adopts the former
alternative I have to arrange some plan to carry her off and to get out
of the country, an operation in which I foresee no little difficulty.
Of course if we are caught my life is forfeited, there is no question
about that. The question for us to consider is how we are to set about
to carry out our respective plans."
"We need only consider your plan as far as I can see," Geoffrey said.
"Of course I shall do what I can to assist you, and if you manage to
get off safely with the young lady I shall escape at the same time."
"Not at all," Burke said; "you have only to wait here quietly until you
see an opportunity. I will go with you to-morrow to the merchants I was
introduced to to-day, and say that I am going away for a time and shall
be obliged if they will make you useful in any way until I return. In
that way you will have a sort of established position here, and can
wait until you see a chance of smuggling yourself on board some English
or Dutch vessel. Mine is a very different affair. I may talk lightly of
it, but I am perfectly aware that I run a tremendous risk, and that the
chances are very strongly against me."
"Whatever the chances are," Geoffrey said quietly, "I shall share them
with you. Your kindness has saved me from what at best might have been
imprisonment for life, and not improbably would have been torture and
death at the hands of the Inquisition, and I am certainly not going to
withdraw myself from you now when you are entering upon what is
undoubtedly a very dangerous adventure. If we escape from Spain we
escape together; if not, whatever fate befalls you I am ready to risk."
"Very well; so be it, Geoffrey," Gerald Burke said, holding out his
hand to him. "If your mind is made up I will not argue the question
with you, and indeed I value your companionship and aid too highly to
try to shake your determination. Let us then at once talk over what is
now our joint enterprise. Ribaldo estate lies about half-way between
this and Seville, and we passed within a few miles of it as we came
hither. The first thing, of course, will be to procure some sort of
disguise in which I can see Inez and have a talk with her. Now, it
seems to me, for I have been thinking the matter over in every way as
we rode, that the only disguise in which this would be possible would
be that of a priest or monk."
Geoffrey laughed aloud. "You would in the first place have to shave off
your moustachios, Gerald, and I fear that even after you had done so
there would be nothing venerable in your appearance; and whatever the
mission with which you might pretend to charge yourself, your chances
of obtaining a private interview with the lady would be slight."
"I am afraid that I should lack the odour of sanctity, Geoffrey; but
what else can one do? Think it over, man. The way in which you played
the idiot when you were picked out of the water shows that you are
quick at contriving a plan."
"That was a simple business in comparison to this," Geoffrey replied.
"However, you are not pressed for time, and I will think it over
to-night and may light upon some possible scheme, for I own that at
present I have not the least idea how the matter is to be managed."
As in the morning there were several other travellers taking breakfast
in the same room, the conversation was not renewed until Gerald Burke
strolled out, followed at a respectful distance by Geoffrey, who still
passed as his servant, and reached a quiet spot on the ramparts. Here
Geoffrey joined him, and they stood for some minutes looking over the
sea.
"What a magnificent position for a city!" Geoffrey said at last.
"Standing on this rocky tongue of land jutting out at the entrance to
this splendid bay it ought to be impregnable, since it can only be
attacked on the side facing that sandy isthmus. What a number of ships
are lying up the bay, and what a busy scene it is with the boats
passing and repassing! Though they must be two miles away I fancy I can
hear the shouts of the sailors."
"Yes, it is all very fine," Gerald said; "but I have seen it several
times before. Still, I can make allowances for you. Do you see that
group of small ships a mile beyond the others? Those are the English
and Dutchmen. They are allowed to trade, but as you see they are kept
apart, and there are three war galleys lying close to them. No one is
allowed to land, and every boat going off is strictly examined, and all
those who go on board have to show their permits from the governor to
trade; so, you see, the chance of getting on board one of them is
slight indeed. Higher up the bay lies Puerto de Santa Maria, where a
great trade is carried on, and much wine shipped; though more comes
from Jeres, which lies up the river. You know we passed through it on
our way here.
"Yes, this is a splendid position for trade, and I suppose the commerce
carried on here is larger than in any port in Europe; though Antwerp
ranked as first until the troubles began in the Netherlands. But this
ought to be first. It has all the trade of the Atlantic sea-board, and
standing at the mouth of the Mediterranean commands that also; while
all the wealth of the New World pours in here. That is great already;
there is no saying what it will be in the future, while some day the
trade from the far East should flow in here also by vessels trading
round the south of Africa.
"Cadiz has but one fault: the space on which it stands is too small for
a great city. You see how close the houses stand together, and how
narrow are the streets. It cannot spread without extending beyond the
rock over the sands, and then its strength would be gone, and it would
be open to capture by an enterprising enemy having command of the sea.
There now, having indulged your humour, let us return to more important
matters. Have you thought over what we were talking about last night?"
"I have certainly thought it over," Geoffrey said; "but I do not know
that thinking has resulted in much. The only plan that occurs to me as
being at all possible is this. You were talking in joke at Madrid of
turning robber. Would it be possible, think you, to get together a
small band of men to aid you in carrying off the young lady, either
from the grounds of her father's house or while journeying on the road?
You could then have your talk with her. If you find her willing to fly
with you, you could leave the men you have engaged and journey across
the country in some sort of disguise to a port. If she objected, you
could conduct her back to the neighbourhood of the house and allow her
to return. There is one difficulty: you must, of course, be prepared
with a priest, so that you can be married at once if she consents to
accompany you."
Gerald Burke was silent for some time. "The scheme seems a possible
one," he said at last; "it is the question of the priest that bothers
me. You know, both in Seville and Cadiz there are Irish colleges, and
at both places there are several priests whom I knew before they
entered the Church, and who would, I am sure, perform the service for
me on any ordinary occasion; but it is a different thing asking them to
take a share in such a business as this, for they would render
themselves liable to all sorts of penalties and punishments from their
superiors. However, the difficulty must be got over somehow, and at any
rate the plan seems to promise better than anything I had thought of.
The first difficulty is how to get the ruffians for such a business. I
cannot go up to the first beetle-browed knave I meet in the street and
say to him, Are you disposed to aid me in the abduction of a lady?"
"No," Geoffrey laughed; "but fortunately you have an intermediary ready
at hand."
"How so?" Gerald exclaimed in surprise. "Why, how on earth can you have
an acquaintance with any ruffians in Cadiz?"
"Not a very intimate acquaintance, Gerald; but if you take the trouble
to go into the court-yard of the inn when we get back you will see one
of those rascally muleteers who were in league with the robbers who
attacked us on the way. He was in conversation when we came out with a
man who breakfasted with us, and was probably bargaining for a load for
his mules back to Seville. I have no doubt that through him you might
put yourself into communication with half the cutthroats of the town."
"That is a capital idea, Geoffrey, and I will have a talk with the man
as soon as we get back; for if he is not still there, I am sure to be
able to learn from some of the men about the stables where to find him."
"You must go very carefully to work, Gerald," Geoffrey said. "It would
never do to let any of the fellows know the exact object for which you
engaged them, for they might be sure of getting a far larger sum from
the marquis for divulging your plans to carry off his daughter than you
could afford to pay them for their services."
"I quite see that, and will be careful."
On their return to the inn Gerald Burke at once made inquiries as to
the muleteer, and learned that he would probably return in an hour to
see if a bargain could be made with a trader for the hire of his mules
back to Seville.
Gerald waited about until the man came. "I want to have a talk with
you, my friend," he said.
The muleteer looked at him with a suspicious eye. "I am busy," he said
in a surly tone; "I have no time to waste."
"But it would not be wasting it if it were to lead to your putting a
dozen crowns in your pocket."
"Oh, if it is to lead to that, señor, I can spare an hour, for I don't
think that anything is likely to come out of the job I came here to try
to arrange."
"We will walk away to a quieter place," Gerald said. "There are too
many people about here for us to talk comfortably. The ramparts are but
two or three minutes' walk; we can talk there without interruption."
When they arrived upon the ramparts Gerald commenced the conversation.
"I think you were foolish, my friend, not to have taken us into your
confidence the other day before that little affair. You could have made
an opportunity well enough. We stopped to luncheon; if you had drawn me
aside, and told me frankly that some friends of yours were about to
make an attack upon the traders, and that you would guarantee that they
would make it worth my while-"
"What do you mean by saying my friends, or that I had any knowledge of
the affair beforehand?" the man asked furiously.
"I say so," Gerald replied, "because I had it on excellent authority.
The wounded robber made a clean breast of the whole affair, and of your
share in it, as well as that of the rascally clerk of one of the
traders. If it had not been for me the merchants would have handed you
over to the magistrates at the place where we stopped that night; but I
dissuaded them, upon the ground that they would have to attend as
witnesses against you, and that it was not worth their while to lose
valuable time merely for the pleasure of seeing you hung. However, all
this is beside the question. What I was saying was, it is a pity you
did not say to me frankly: Your presence here is inopportune; but if
you will stand apart if any unexpected affair takes place, you will get
say two thousand crowns out of the twenty-five thousand my friends are
going to capture. Had you done that, you see, things might have turned
out differently."
"I did not know," the muleteer stammered.
"No, you did not know for certain, of course, that I was a soldier of
fortune; but if you had been sharp you might have guessed it. However,
it is too late for that now. Now, what I wanted to ask you was if you
could get me half a dozen of your friends to take service under me in a
little adventure I have to carry out. They will be well paid, and I do
not suppose they will have much trouble over it."
"And what would you pay me, cabbalero?" the muleteer asked humbly; for
he had been greatly impressed with the valour displayed by the young
Irishman and his servant in the fray, and thought that he intended to
get together a company for adventures on the road, in which case he
might be able to have some profitable dealings with him in the future.
"I will give you twenty crowns," Gerald replied; "and considering that
you owe your life to my interposition, I think that you ought not to
haggle about terms."
"The party who attacked us," the muleteer said, "lost their captain and
several of their comrades in that fray, and would I doubt not gladly
enter into your service, seeing that they have received such proof of
your worship's valour."
"Where could I see them?" Gerald asked.
"I think that they will be now in Jeres, if that would suit you, señor;
but if not I could doubtless find a party of men in this town equally
ready for your business."
"Jeres will do very well for me," Gerald said; "I shall be travelling
that way and will put up at the Fonda where we stopped as we came
through. When are you starting?"
"It depends whether I make my bargain with a man at your hotel," the
muleteer replied; "and this I doubt not I shall do, for with the twenty
crowns your honour is going to give me I shall not stand out for terms.
He is travelling with clothes from Flanders, and if your worship
thought--"
"No," Gerald said. "I do not wish to undertake any adventures of that
sort until I have a band properly organized, and have arranged
hiding-places and methods of getting rid of the booty. I will go back
with you to the inn, and if you strike your bargain you can tell me as
you pass out of the gate what evening you will meet me at Jeres."
On arriving at the inn Gerald lounged at the gate of the court-yard
until the muleteer came out.
"I will meet your worship on the fifth night from this at Jeres."
"Very well; here are five crowns as an earnest on our bargain. If you
carry it out well I shall very likely forget to deduct them from the
twenty I promised you. Do not be surprised if you find me somewhat
changed in appearance when you meet me there."
At the appointed time the muleteer with his train of animals entered
the court-yards of the Fonda at Jeres. Gerald was standing on the steps
of the inn. He had altered the fashion of his hair, had fastened on
large bushy eyebrows which he had obtained from a skilful perruquier in
Cadiz, and a moustache of imposing size turned up at the tips; he wore
high buff leather boots, and there was an air of military swagger about
him, and he was altogether so changed that at the first glance the
muleteer failed to recognize him. As soon as the mules were unburdened,
Gerald found an opportunity of speaking with him.
"I will go round at once," the man said, "to the place where I shall
certainly obtain news of my friends if they are here. I told your
honour that they might be here, but they may have gone away on some
affair of business, and may be on the road or at Seville. They always
work between this town and Seville."
"I understand that you may not meet them to-night; if not, I will meet
you again in Seville. How long will you be finding out about them?"
"I shall know in half an hour, señor; if they are not here I shall be
back here in less than an hour, but if I find them I shall be detained
longer in order to talk over with them the offer your worship makes."
"Very well; in an hour you will find me in the street opposite the inn.
I shall wait there until you come. If all is well make a sign and I
will follow you. Do not mention to them that I have in any way
disguised myself. Our acquaintance was so short that I don't fancy they
had time to examine me very closely; and I have my own reasons for
wishing that they should not be acquainted with my ordinary appearance,
and have therefore to some extent disguised myself."
"I will say nothing about it," the muleteer replied. "Your worship can
depend upon my discretion."
"That is right," Gerald said. "We may have future dealings together,
and I can reward handsomely those I find trustworthy and punish those
who in the slightest degree disobey my orders."
In an hour and a half the muleteer returned, made a signal to Gerald
and passed on. The latter joined him at a short distance from the hotel.
"It is all settled, señor. I found the men much dispirited at the loss
of their captain and comrades; and when I proposed to them to take
service under the cabbalero who wrought them such mischief the other
day, they jumped at the idea, saying that under such a valiant leader
there was no fear of the failure of any enterprise they might
undertake."
A quarter of an hour's walking took them to a small inn of villainous
appearance in one of the smallest lanes of the town. Gerald was wrapped
from head to foot in his cloak, and only his face was visible. He had a
brace of pistols in his belt, and was followed at a short distance,
unnoticed by the muleteer, by Geoffrey, who had arranged to keep close
to the door of any house he entered, and was to be in readiness to rush
in and take part in the fray if he heard the sound of firearms within.
Gerald himself had not at first entertained any idea of treachery; but
Geoffrey had pointed out that it was quite possible that the robbers
and the muleteer had but feigned acquiescence in his proposals in order
to get him into their power, and take revenge for the loss of their
captain and comrades, and of the valuable booty which had so
unexpectedly slipped through their fingers owing to his intervention.
The appearance of the six ruffians gathered in the low room, lighted by
a wretched lamp, was not very assuring, and Gerald kept his hand on the
butt of one of his pistols.
The four robbers who had been engaged in the fray, however, saluted him
respectfully, and the other two members of the band, who had been
absent on other business, followed their example. They had heard from
those present of the extraordinary valour with which the two travelling
companions of the trader had thrown themselves into the fray, and had
alone disposed of their four comrades, and being without a leader, and
greatly disheartened by their ill-luck, they were quite ready to
forgive the misfortunes Gerald had brought upon them, and to accept
such a redoubtable swordsman as their leader.
Gerald began the conversation. "You have heard," he said, "from our
friend here of the offer I make you. I desire a band of six men on whom
I can rely for an adventure which promises large profit. Don't suppose
that I am going to lead you to petty robberies on the road, in which,
as you learned to your cost the other day, one sometimes gets more hard
knocks than profit. Such adventures may do for petty knaves, but they
are not suited to me. The way to get wealthy is to strike at the rich.
My idea is to establish some place in an out-of-the-way quarter where
there is no fear of prying neighbours, and to carry off and hide there
the sons and daughters of wealthy men and put them to ransom. In the
first instance I am going to undertake a private affair of my own; and
as you will really run no risk in the matter, for I shall separate
myself from you after making my capture, I shall pay you only an
earnest-money of twenty crowns each. In future affairs we shall act
upon the principle of shares. I shall take three shares, a friend who
works with me will take two shares, and you shall take one share
apiece. The risk will really be entirely mine, for I shall take charge
of the captives we make at our rendezvous. You, after lending a hand in
the capture, will return here and hold yourself in readiness to join
me, and carry out another capture as soon as I have made all the
necessary arrangements. Thus, if by any chance we are tracked, I alone
and my friend will run the risk of capture and punishment. In that way
we may, in the course of a few months, amass a much larger booty than
we should in a lifetime spent in these wretched adventures upon
travellers.
"Now, it is for you to say whether these terms will suit you, and
whether you are ready to follow my orders and obey me implicitly. The
whole task of making the necessary arrangements, or finding out the
habits of the families one of whose members we intend carrying off, of
bribing nurses or duennas, will be all my business. You will simply
have to meet when you are summoned to aid in the actual enterprise, and
then, when our captive is safely housed, to return here or scatter
where you will and live at ease until again summoned. The utmost
fidelity will be necessary. Large rewards will in many cases be offered
for the discovery of the missing persons, and one traitor would bring
ruin upon us all; therefore it will be absolutely necessary that you
take an oath of fidelity to me, and swear one and all to punish the
traitor with death. Do you agree to my proposal?"
There was a unanimous exclamation of assent. The plan seemed to offer
probabilities of large booty with a minimum of trouble and risk. One or
two suggested that they should like to join in the first capture on the
same terms as the others, but Gerald at once pronounced this to be
impossible.
"This is my own affair," he said, "and money is not now my object. As
you will only be required to meet at a given hour some evening, and to
carry off a captive who will not be altogether unwilling to come, there
will be little or no risk in the matter, and twenty crowns will not be
bad pay for an evening's work. After that you will, as I have said,
share in the profits of all future captures we may undertake."
The band all agreed, and at once took solemn oaths of fidelity to their
new leader, and swore to punish by death any one of their number who
should betray the secrets of the body.
"That is well," Gerald said when the oaths had been taken. "It may be a
week before you receive your first summons. Here are five crowns apiece
for your expenses up to that time. Let one of you be in front of the
great church as the clock strikes eight morning and evening. Do not
wait above five minutes; if I am coming I shall be punctual. In the
meantime take counsel among yourselves as to the best hiding-place that
can be selected. Between you you no doubt know every corner and hole in
the country. I want a place which will be at once lonely and far
removed from other habitations, but it must be at the same time
moderately comfortable, as the captives we take must have no reason to
complain of their treatment while in my hands. Think this matter over
before I again see you."
Gerald then joined Geoffrey outside, and found that the latter was
beginning to be anxious at his long absence. After a few words saying
that everything had been successfully arranged, the two friends
returned together to their inn.