CHAPTER XVIII.
IN WHICH THE CAPTAIN'S COMEDY IS PLAYED.
I could see them clearly. They were now
some distance to the left, apparently in the middle
of the first home meadow. Thither I bent my
course across wet turf in the piercing night, but with
heed for nought save those baleful lanterns. For
now I was never more convinced of anything than
that these foes had come abroad to settle once for all
their long account. By the rapidity with which I
drew nearer to the lights, I concluded that their
bearers had halted, probably to choose their battleground.
Instinctively feeling this to be the case,
I broke into a run. Clearing the lawn, leaping pell-mell
across the grotto at its margin, and skirting
the artificial lake, I emerged into the open field.
It was so well lit by the bright moon, riding through
white cloud, that I could see enough to confirm my
coldest fears.
The lanterns were now reposing on the grass, while each man stood beside his own, perhaps at a distance of a dozen paces. They seemed to be fearlessly erect, and absolutely resolute, and this in itself was enough to prove that only death was likely to
