"
Without a word Hugh unstrapped his cloak, felt for a level piece of
ground in the hut, and with his cloak for his pillow, was soon
asleep.
Rupert sat down on the log of a tree, that lay outside the hut, and
leaned against its wall. For two hours he sat, and thought over the
adventures and the prospects of the war, and then gradually a
drowsiness crept over him, and he fell fast asleep.
His waking was not pleasant. Indeed, he was hardly aware that he
was awake; for he first came to the consciousness that he was lying
on the ground, with a number of wild-looking figures around him,
some of whom bore torches, while Hugh, held by two of them, was
close by.
It was Hugh's voice, indeed, that first recalled him to a
consciousness of what had happened.
"Master Rupert, Master Rupert!" he exclaimed. "Tell me that you are
not killed!"
"No, I am not killed, Hugh," Rupert said, raising himself on his
elbow. "But it would have served me right if I had been, for going
to sleep on my watch."
One of their captors now stooped down, seized Rupert by the
shoulder, and gave him a rough kick to intimate that he was to get
up.
"I am sorry, Hugh, that I have sacrificed your life as well as my
own by my folly, for I have no doubt these fellows mean to kill us.
They are charcoal burners, as rough a lot as there exists in
Europe, and now naturally half mad at the flames they see all over
the land.
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