Ludovico soon after returning with water and brandy, the former was applied to his lips, and the latter to his temples and hands, and Blanche, at length, saw him unclose his eyes, and then heard him enquire for her; but the joy she felt, on this occasion, was interrupted by new alarms, when Ludovico said it would be necessary to remove Mons.St.Foix immediately, and added, 'The banditti, that are out, my Lord, were expected home, an hour ago, and they will certainly find us, if we delay.That shrill horn, they know, is never sounded by their comrades but on most desperate occasions, and it echoes among the mountains for many leagues round.I have known them brought home by its sound even from the Pied de Melicant.Is any body standing watch at the great gate, my Lord?'
'Nobody,' replied the Count; 'the rest of my people are now scattered about, I scarcely know where.Go, Ludovico, collect them together, and look out yourself, and listen if you hear the feet of mules.'
Ludovico then hurried away, and the Count consulted as to the means of removing St.Foix, who could not have borne the motion of a mule, even if his strength would have supported him in the saddle.
While the Count was telling, that the banditti, whom they had found in the fort, were secured in the dungeon, Blanche observed that he was himself wounded, and that his left arm was entirely useless; but he smiled at her anxiety, assuring her the wound was trifling.
The Count's servants, except two who kept watch at the gate, now appeared, and, soon after, Ludovico.'I think I hear mules coming along the glen, my Lord,' said he, 'but the roaring of the torrent below will not let me be certain; however, I have brought what will serve the Chevalier,' he added, shewing a bear's skin, fastened to a couple of long poles, which had been adapted for the purpose of bringing home such of the banditti as happened to be wounded in their encounters.Ludovico spread it on the ground, and, placing the skins of several goats upon it, made a kind of bed, into which the Chevalier, who was however now much revived, was gently lifted; and, the poles being raised upon the shoulders of the guides, whose footing among these steeps could best be depended upon, he was borne along with an easy motion.Some of the Count's servants were also wounded--but not materially, and, their wounds being bound up, they now followed to the great gate.As they passed along the hall, a loud tumult was heard at some distance, and Blanche was terrified.
'It is only those villains in the dungeon, my Lady,' said Ludovico.
'They seem to be bursting it open,' said the Count.'No, my Lord,'
replied Ludovico, 'it has an iron door; we have nothing to fear from them; but let me go first, and look out from the rampart.'
They quickly followed him, and found their mules browsing before the gates, where the party listened anxiously, but heard no sound, except that of the torrent below and of the early breeze, sighing among the branches of the old oak, that grew in the court; and they were now glad to perceive the first tints of dawn over the mountain-tops.
When they had mounted their mules, Ludovico, undertaking to be their guide, led them by an easier path, than that by which they had formerly ascended, into the glen.'We must avoid that valley to the east, my Lord,' said he, 'or we may meet the banditti; they went out that way in the morning.'
The travellers, soon after, quitted this glen, and found themselves in a narrow valley that stretched towards the north-west.The morning light upon the mountains now strengthened fast, and gradually discovered the green hillocks, that skirted the winding feet of the cliffs, tufted with cork tree, and ever-green oak.The thunder-clouds being dispersed, had left the sky perfectly serene, and Blanche was revived by the fresh breeze, and by the view of verdure, which the late rain had brightened.Soon after, the sun arose, when the dripping rocks, with the shrubs that fringed their summits, and many a turfy slope below, sparkled in his rays.A wreath of mist was seen, floating along the extremity of the valley, but the gale bore it before the travellers, and the sun-beams gradually drew it up towards the summit of the mountains.They had proceeded about a league, when, St.Foix having complained of extreme faintness, they stopped to give him refreshment, and, that the men, who bore him, might rest.Ludovico had brought from the fort some flasks of rich Spanish wine, which now proved a reviving cordial not only to St.
Foix but to the whole party, though to him it gave only temporary relief, for it fed the fever, that burned in his veins, and he could neither disguise in his countenance the anguish he suffered, or suppress the wish, that he was arrived at the inn, where they had designed to pass the preceding night.
While they thus reposed themselves under the shade of the dark green pines, the Count desired Ludovico to explain shortly, by what means he had disappeared from the north apartment, how he came into the hands of the banditti, and how he had contributed so essentially to serve him and his family, for to him he justly attributed their present deliverance.Ludovico was going to obey him, when suddenly they heard the echo of a pistol-shot, from the way they had passed, and they rose in alarm, hastily to pursue their route.
