The Lady of the Shroud by Bram Stoker (book series for 10 year olds .txt) đź“•
"Sorry. But, of course, you don't understand such things." Then he went on talking before father had time to say a word.
"Let us get back to business. As you do not seem to follow me, let me explain that it is BECAUSE I do not forget that I wish to do this. I remember my dear mother's wish to make Aunt Janet happy, and would like to do as she did."
"AUNT Janet?" said father, very properly sneering at his ignorance. "She is not your aunt. Why, even her sister, who was married to your uncle, was only your aunt by courtesy." I could not help feeling that Rupert meant to be rude to my father, though his words were quite polite. If I had been as much bigger than him as he was than me, I should have flown at him; but he was a very big boy for his age. I am myself rather thin. Mother says thinness is an "appanage of birth."
"My Aunt Janet, sir, is an aunt by love. Courtesy is a small word to use in connection with such devoti
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or no path—let them advance cautiously and secretly, keeping their
guns in readiness. But they must not fire till need. Remember, my
brothers,” said, turning to those who stepped out a pace or two to
the left, “that the first shot gives the warning which will be the
signal for the Voivodin’s death. These men will not hesitate. You
must judge yourselves of the time to shoot. The others of us will
move to the right and try to find a path on that side. If the valley
be indeed a pocket between the cliffs, we must find a way down that
is not a path!”
As he spoke thus there was a blaze in his eyes that betokened no good
to aught that might stand in his way. I ran by his side as we moved
to the right.
It was as he surmised about the cliff. When we got a little on our
way we saw how the rocky formation trended to our right, till,
finally, with a wide curve, it came round to the other side.
It was a fearful valley that, with its narrow girth and its towering
walls that seemed to topple over. On the farther side from us the
great trees that clothed the slope of the mountain over it grew down
to the very edge of the rock, so that their spreading branches hung
far over the chasm. And, so far as we could understand, the same
condition existed on our own side. Below us the valley was dark even
in the daylight. We could best tell the movement of the flying
marauders by the flashes of the white shroud of their captive in the
midst of them.
From where we were grouped, amid the great tree-trunks on the very
brow of the cliff, we could, when our eyes were accustomed to the
shadow, see them quite well. In great haste, and half dragging, half
carrying the Voivodin, they crossed the open space and took refuge in
a little grassy alcove surrounded, save for its tortuous entrance, by
undergrowth. From the valley level it was manifestly impossible to
see them, though we from our altitude could see over the stunted
undergrowth. When within the glade, they took their hands from her.
She, shuddering instinctively, withdrew to a remote corner of the
dell.
And then, oh, shame on their manhood!—Turks and heathens though they
were—we could see that they had submitted her to the indignity of
gagging her and binding her hands!
Our Voivodin Teuta bound! To one and all of us it was like lashing
us across the face. I heard the Gospodar’s teeth grind again. But
once more he schooled himself to calmness ere he said:
“It is, perhaps, as well, great though the indignity be. They are
seeking their own doom, which is coming quickly … Moreover, they
are thwarting their own base plans. Now that she is bound they will
trust to their binding, so that they will delay their murderous
alternative to the very last moment. Such is our chance of rescuing
her alive!”
For a few moments he stood as still as a stone, as though revolving
something in his mind whilst he watched. I could see that some grim
resolution was forming in his mind, for his eyes ranged to the top of
the trees above cliff, and down again, very slowly this time, as
though measuring and studying the detail of what was in front of him.
Then he spoke:
“They are in hopes that the other pursuing party may not come across
them. To know that, they are waiting. If those others do not come
up the valley, they will proceed on their way. They will return up
the path the way they came. There we can wait them, charge into the
middle of them when she is opposite, and cut down those around her.
Then the others will open fire, and we shall be rid of them!
Whilst he was speaking, two of the men of our party, who I knew to be
good sharpshooters, and who had just before lain on their faces and
had steadied their rifles to shoot, rose to their feet.
“Command us, Gospodar!” they said simply, as they stood to attention.
“Shall we go to the head of the ravine road and there take hiding?”
He thought for perhaps a minute, whilst we all stood as silent as
images. I could hear our hearts beating. Then he said:
“No, not yet. There is time for that yet. They will not—cannot
stir or make plans in any way till they know whether the other party
is coming towards them or not. From our height here we can see what
course the others are taking long before those villains do. Then we
can make our plans and be ready in time.
We waited many minutes, but could see no further signs the other
pursuing party. These had evidently adopted greater caution in their
movements as they came closer to where they expected to find the
enemy. The marauders began to grow anxious. Even at our distance we
could gather as much from their attitude and movements.
Presently, when the suspense of their ignorance grew too much for
them, they drew to the entrance of the glade, which was the farthest
place to which, without exposing themselves to anyone who might come
to the valley, they could withdraw from their captive. Here they
consulted together. We could follow from their gestures what they
were saying, for as they did not wish their prisoner to hear, their
gesticulation was enlightening to us as to each other. Our people,
like all mountaineers, have good eyes, and the Gospodar is himself an
eagle in this as in other ways. Three men stood back from the rest.
They stacked their rifles so that they could seize them easily. Then
they drew their scimitars, and stood ready, as though on guard.
These were evidently the appointed murderers. Well they knew their
work; for though they stood in a desert place with none within long
distance except the pursuing party, of whose approach they would have
good notice, they stood so close to their prisoner that no marksman
in the world—now or that ever had been; not William Tell himself—
could have harmed any of them without at least endangering her. Two
of them turned the Voivodin round so that her face was towards the
precipice—in which position she could not see what was going on—
whilst he who was evidently leader of the gang explained, in gesture,
that the others were going to spy upon the pursuing party. When they
had located them he, or one of his men, would come out of the opening
of the wood wherein they had had evidence of them, and hold up his
hand.
That was to be the signal for the cutting of the victim’s throat—
such being the chosen method (villainous even for heathen murderers)
of her death. There was not one of our men who did not grind his
teeth when we witnessed the grim action, only too expressive, of the
Turk as he drew his right hand, clenched as though he held a yataghan
in it, across his throat.
At the opening of the glade all the spying party halted whilst the
leader appointed to each his place of entry of the wood, the front of
which extended in an almost straight across the valley from cliff to
cliff.
The men, stooping low when in the open, and taking instant advantage
of every little obstacle on the ground, seemed to fade like spectres
with incredible swiftness across the level mead, and were swallowed
up in the wood.
When they had disappeared the Gospodar Rupert revealed to us the
details of the plan of action which he had revolving in his mind. He
motioned us to follow him: we threaded a way between the tree-trunks, keeping all the while on the very edge of the cliff, so that
the space below was all visible to us. When we had got round the
curve sufficiently to see the whole of the wood on the valley level,
without losing sight of the Voivodin and her appointed assassins, we
halted under his direction. There was an added advantage of this
point over the other, for we could see directly the rising of the
hill-road, up which farther side ran the continuation of the mountain
path which the marauders had followed. It was somewhere on that path
that the other pursuing party had hoped to intercept the fugitives.
The Gospodar spoke quickly, though in a voice of command which true
soldiers love to hear:
“Brothers, the time has come when we can strike a blow for Teuta and
the Land. Do you two, marksmen, take position here facing the wood.”
The two men here lay down and got their rifles ready. “Divide the
frontage of the wood between you; arrange between yourselves the
limits of your positions. The very instant one of the marauders
appears, cover him; drop him before he emerges from the wood. Even
then still watch and treat similarly whoever else may take his place.
Do this if they come singly till not a man is left. Remember,
brothers, that brave hearts alone will not suffice at this grim
crisis. In this hour the best safety of the Voivodin is in the calm
spirit and the steady eye!” Then he turned to the rest of us, and
spoke to me:
“Archimandrite of Plazac, you who are interpreter to God of the
prayers of so many souls, my own hour has come. If I do not return,
convey my love to my Aunt Janet—Miss MacKelpie, at Vissarion. There
is but one thing left to us if we wish to save the Voivodin. Do you,
when the time comes, take these men and join the watcher at the top
of the ravine road. When the shots are fired, do you out handjar,
and rush the ravine and across the valley. Brothers, you may be in
time to avenge the Voivodin, if you cannot save her. For me there
must be a quicker way, and to it I go. As there is not, and will not
be, time to traverse the path, I must take a quicker way. Nature
finds me a path that man has made it necessary for me to travel. See
that giant beech-tree that towers above the glade where the Voivodin
is held? There is my path! When you from here have marked the
return of the spies, give me a signal with your hat—do not use a
handkerchief, as others might see its white, and take warning. Then
rush that ravine. I shall take that as the signal for my descent by
the leafy road. If I can do naught else, I can crush the murderers
with my falling weight, even if I have to kill her too. At least we
shall die together—and free. Lay us together in the tomb at St.
Sava’s. Farewell, if it be the last!”
He threw down the scabbard in which he carried his handjar, adjusted
the naked weapon in his belt behind his back, and was gone!
We who were not watching the wood kept our eyes fixed on the great
beech-tree, and with new interest noticed the long trailing branches
which hung low, and swayed even in the gentle breeze. For a few
minutes, which seemed amazingly long, we saw no sign of him. Then,
high up on one of the great branches which stood clear of obscuring
leaves, we saw something crawling flat against the bark. He was well
out on the branch, hanging far over the precipice. He was looking
over at us, and
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