"Carruthers? Well, I'm damned!"
"Judging by this inn, I should say you were; but how goes it, old chap?"
"How in the world did you get here?"
"Boat, train, and horse; but I'm waiting for you to say that you are
pleased to see me."
"Pleased? You bet I am; why, there is nothing could have pleased me
more; but how did you know where to find us?"
"Your mother gave me your probable route, so I chanced it. I have three
months' leave, and I'm going to enjoy my little self."
"Good! Now, look here, we are just going to start on a tramp to the
capital: are you game to come now, or shall we postpone it?"
"I'll come right away. I've only a bag, and I'll leave that here to be
forwarded."
"It can go on our transport animal--they call it a horse--fetch it while
I settle up; Mr. Neville is outside."
It was the final touch to my happiness to have Carruthers with us; Mr.
Neville, too, was delighted. There was such a tremendous lot to tell
each other: all the multitude of happenings of the last two years.
The path along which we were travelling was only a bridle track at most
and led us by a zigzag route up the mountain. We had too much to do, in
seeing that we put our feet on firm ground, to talk, and as there was
little beside rock to look at we did not make any great delay. It was
hard work, though; how the horse managed some parts beats me altogether.
Our guide Piotr kept ahead at a steady pace. Just as it was getting
dusk, he stopped.
"This will be a good place to halt, Excellency."
"Very good."
I walked a little farther and turned a corner, Rudarlia lay in front of
me. I was glad that my companions had stayed behind, for my heart was
beating ridiculously, and there was a mist in front of my eyes. I stood
there alone, and drank in the beauty of the vast panorama stretched
before me, the failing light made for mystery, and full of exultation I
stretched out my arms as though to embrace it all, murmuring to myself:
"My country! my country!"
*CHAPTER IV*
When I returned to the others, I found a wood fire crackling merrily,
and preparations being made for a meal.
I am afraid that I did not contribute much to the conversation for some
time--I was thinking; but after we had finished eating, and were sitting
smoking with the comfortable feeling one has when healthily tired, I did
my share.
Carruthers gave me a message from my people: on no consideration was I
to try and find Mr. Smith, as any inquiries might be serious for him.
Of course he had not been given any reasons for this; but I could see he
was curious, and I could not, and Mr. Neville would not, enlighten him.
It was a perfect night, and there was no sound, save the rippling of a
brook, to mar the stillness, that is, when we were not talking. Little
by little I saw Mr. Neville and Carruthers growing more and more drowsy,
and presently, with contented grunts, they rolled over and fell asleep.
Piotr had already taken himself away from the fire and now lay, a dark
mass, wrapped in his blanket.
We had asked many questions of him, but I do not remember receiving any
enlightening answers; he always appeared to be guarding his tongue, why,
I did not understand.
There was one thing which Carruthers had told me that gave me
considerable uneasiness; it was that my stepfather did not seem as well
as his wont. This upset me, for I had never known him anything but
splendidly well. I seemed to feel him near me in the night; perhaps at
that moment he was talking of us, who knows? The darkness made me
strangely fanciful, but presently I too was asleep.
The next morning I woke very early, and found that we had an addition to
our party, a man, hump-backed, and rather evil looking.
Piotr explained that he had overtaken us at about midnight, and, as he
was tired, had asked permission to use our fire.
I spoke a few words to the fellow, telling him that he could have some
food if he liked, and then woke the others.
Our ablutions were performed in a small stream that gurgled and
spluttered a few yards away; then, having had our breakfast, we once
more started.
This time our order was reversed, the two men and the horse being
behind; while we three tramped cheerfully on, glorying in the fresh
morning air which had the effect of champagne upon our spirits.
Two or three miles from our halting place of the night, we came to a
piece of road only some seven or eight feet wide.
On one side the ground sloped steeply up, covered with great masses of
rock and stones; on the other was a sheer drop of some hundreds of feet
into a thickly wooded valley.
Carruthers suddenly took it into his head that he was a mountain goat,
and went springing madly down the path, disappearing in a few moments
round a curve.
Mr. Neville had just made some laughing remark about his being almost
inclined to follow, when without any reason apparently, a stone came
rushing down from above us.
We both sprang forward instinctively, and heard the rock strike the
path, then an appalling yell from behind us; we swung round. Piotr had
disappeared. The hunchback was cringing away from the abyss, and could
hardly summon sufficient strength to point with a trembling hand. It
was enough, however, and we understood that our guide had gone over the
edge; the suddenness of the accident made it the more appalling.
We lay flat on our stomachs and peered over; then I scrambled to my
feet.
"He's stuck there, some way down. Here you, run after the gentleman and
get him back as quickly as possible; there is just a chance that we can
save your friend. Quick, man, quick!"
He darted off; and Mr. Neville ran to undo the rope which hung from the
pack-saddle of the horse.
"Will it be long enough?" I said.
"I hope so, I judge him to be thirty to thirty-five feet down."
I took the free end of the rope, and made a slip noose. The one idea in
my head was that somehow I must save this man. He was as far as I could
see jammed in an angle of rock, and held in position by the roots of a
small tree, which had found enough earth on the ledge to give it a
stunted existence.
I kept repeating to myself: "If only the tree holds, if only the tree
holds." When the rope had been arranged satisfactorily I placed a
folded rug on the edge of the precipice, to prevent the rock cutting,
then turned to see if Carruthers was in sight.
Mr. Neville was standing over me, with a terribly drawn look on his
face.
"Victor, you can't go," he muttered.
I said nothing, only smiled; and Carruthers turned the corner at a run,
followed closely by the hunch-back.
"Buck up, old man," he cried, throwing off his coat, "and I'll get him
up in a jiffy."
"No, I'm going."
They looked at me, Mr. Neville very white, and Carruthers almost
angrily.
"Don't talk rot, Splosh, of course I shall go."
"You will do nothing of the kind; he is my servant, my countryman, and
I'm going. Quick, don't waste time talking, lay on to the rope, you and
Mr. Neville, while you," I said to the hunchback, "be ready to pull him
over the edge."