"I have a permit that will carry us through," I said; "but I have no horse to carry it on."
"I'll soon mend that," he answered, and without a word he mounted again and set off at a gallop toward the two soldiers, who stood together holding the horses of their wounded comrades by the bridles. What followed was a gleam of farce in the tragedy that surrounded us. The men seeing him coming were instantly filled with alarm, for my work had told its tale well enough on their nerves, and after making a show of resistance and firing their carbines at him with scarcely a pretence of taking aim, they plunged their spurs into their animals and shot away trying to lead the other horses with them. But Zoiloff gained at every stride, and when he fired his revolver after them they cast off the led horses and themselves fled for their lives in sheer scatterbrained fright. He had no difficulty in capturing one of the horses, and came cantering back to me smiling and victorious.
"What rabbits," he said contemptuously.
"What a happy thought of yours," I replied, as I mounted, and we stole off, keeping the cottage between us and the still flying soldiers.
"Shall we make a dash for it and risk everything; or shall we try and hide? Those curs will soon be after us with a larger pack in full cry, and we may find it difficult to hide."
"We'll push straight for the frontier," I answered, "and trust to old Kolfort's signature to get us through. The patrols seem to be in very small numbers, and if there's any trouble we can show fight. But now tell me what has happened, for I am on fire with impatience to hear everything."
"Happily there's little enough to tell, for by some
