Читать книгу Heart of the World онлайн

52 страница из 103

An hour later I followed them myself without being observed by the spies of the attacking party, for rain fell and the night was very dark. Arriving in the garden, I collected my men, and placed them in ambush under a low wall commanding the street, up which I knew the murderers must come. Here we waited patiently till the cocks crew and the dawn began to break in the east.

Presently we heard a stir in the village beneath, as of men marching, and in the gathering light we saw the murderers creeping stealthily up the street to the number of fifty or more. So great was their fear of the Englishman, that they thought it safer to bring many men to kill him, also each of the villains desired that his neighbour should be a sharer in the crime.

“Will you not wake up the Inglese?” asked the man next to me.

“No,” I answered, “it will be time enough to wake him when the affair is settled. Let none of you fire till I give the word.”

Now, the brigands in the street below,—men without shame,—after waiting a little time for the light to grow stronger, advanced toward the gate, looking like a procession of monks, for the air was chilly and each of them wore his serape wrapped about his head. In their hands they carried rifles and drawn machetes.