When he opened his eyes once again, he found himself sitting
propped up against the rocks, his arms tightly pinioned to his
sides, and his feet still encumbered by cords; whilst at a little
distance sat his assailants in a ring, eating and drinking, and
making merry together.
One had a bandaged head, and another had his arm in a rude sling.
But the guide had come in for the worst of Tom's blows, and lay all
his length along the ground, stiff and dead.
Tom smiled a grim sort of smile. He suspected that the same fate
would shortly be his, but nevertheless he did not pity the
unfaithful peasant. If he had acted loyally by the man he professed
to serve, this ill would scarcely have befallen him. He had met his
punishment somewhat more swiftly than is usual.
The men talked in French, and too fast for Tom to catch a word of
their meaning; but when they saw that his eyes were open, and that
he was watching them, they laughed and nodded at him, and by-and-by
one brought him food and a cup of wine, and Tom felt mightily
refreshed thereby.
Then they looked up at the sky, and at the sun which had some time
since passed its meridian, and began to make ready to depart. Tom
was half afraid at first that they, having robbed him of his
despatches, were going to leave him helplessly bound here amongst
the snow, to perish of cold and starvation.
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