"The father was by my side as we advanced. Bare-headed, he was praying with his clenched hands pressed upon his breast. The poor old man was full of agony and terror.
"'They are twenty in number, you say?' asked Chateaunoir.
"'Exactly twenty, mein herr,' replied the old servant, wiping his hunting-knife on the grass with grim care before he sheathed it.
"'Then ten of _us_ are enough for them,' replied our heroic young colonel; 'let the ten gentlemen next me dismount and take their pistols with them. You are sure, my friend, that your young mistress is still among them?'
"'Sure as I live, mein herr,' replied the boor.
"'See!' exclaimed a Mousquetaire, 'there is a white dress amid their circle.
"'_Christi kreutz!_ it is my young lady!' whispered the servant, in a breathless voice.
"I placed my gloved hand on the baron's mouth lest he might utter a cry, and spoil all.
"'At the foot of that elm-tree, and, _mein Gott!_ she is tied to it with a cord.'
"Creeping forward after Chateaunoir (for he would allow no man to precede him) I saw a very remarkable scene.
"Around a huge fire of dried branches that crackled, sputtered, and blazed, casting a red and lurid glow on the gnarled trunks of the old oak-trees and on the leafy canopy formed by their twisted and entwined foliage overhead, were the twenty Uzkokes, all fierce-looking little men, of powerful, active, and athletic figures, with hooked noses, keen eyes, and wild in gesture. They were bearded to the cheekbones, and wore round fur caps and brown pelisses, or short jackets, and wide red breeches, ending in brodequins, or half-boots. They had each a short musket, slung across his body, with a crooked sabre, which was worn in front, so that the hilt came readily to the right hand. A few were asleep, snorting off the fumes of the midnight debauch, as they sprawled among staved barrels, broiled bones and broken dishes. The rest were engaged in a vehement dispute, while near them drooped the poor object of their contention, a pale-cheeked and slender young girl, secured to a tree by two broad buff waist-belts and a cord; her dress was disordered; her flaxen hair dishevelled and unpowdered; her face bowed down in her hands, which rested on her knees.