Starting to an elbow I gazed wildly about and thus espied a girl who,
breaking through the bushes that crowned the bank above, came bounding
down the steep. At sight of me she checked her wild career and turned
to stare back whence she had come, catching her breath in great,
sobbing gasps very distressing to hear.
I remember the round, full column of her throat as she stood thus, her
long, night-black hair a troubled torrent stirring in the gentle wind.
Then she swung about to face me, one hand upon her quick-moving bosom,
the other grasping a small, evil-looking knife.
"Young man," she panted, "young man--help me--!"
As she uttered the words, two men appeared on the bank above us, tall,
dark-complexioned fellows who scowled down on me in manner I found
exceedingly disturbing. "Oh, young man," cried the girl, flourishing
her knife and frowning up at her pursuers, "young man, if you've any
manhood in ye--stand up and help me!"
And now the two men began to descend into the little dell with a
certain deliberation very discomforting to witness, and I arose,
greatly at a loss and looking from one to other of them in growing
apprehension.
"Young man," demanded the girl in scornful undertones, "why do ye
tremble?"
At this moment (and to my inexpressible relief) from the leafy tangles
adjacent rose a voice, shrill and imperious:
"Jochabed--Bennigo!"
The men halted and, following their gaze, I beheld a woman, ancient
and bowed with years yet apparently wonderfully active none the less,
a strange, wrinkled old creature extremely neat of person, with keen,
bright eyes and a portentous chin.
Pages:
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107