Part 51 (1/2)
”He outlaw. One time Suliote chief. Price on his head.”
”And this outlaw, Donatus, led the men who attacked you here?”
”I have said it.”
”How did he happen to be so near the city?”
The driver shook his head.
”Some time he come into city. See hills yonder. He stay there much.
Think he go there now. Take Englishman. Englishman have friends perhaps.
They pay Donatus well if ever see him 'live again.”
”It's right evident,” said Buckhart, ”that Mr. Cavendish is in a very bad sc.r.a.pe.”
”As he richly deserves to be,” declared d.i.c.k.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
DONATUS, THE SULIOTE.
Amid the wild and rugged Grecian hills lay a sheltered and secluded valley. Indeed, this valley was so secluded that a wandering traveler might chance upon it only by the rarest accident. All things favored the probability that he would pa.s.s near without ever dreaming of its existence.
It was night, and in this valley a fire burned, casting its s.h.i.+fting lights on the faces of a small band of men. In all there were eight.
Kirtled, bearded, unkempt, picturesque ruffians they were, every man of them fully armed and looking the thorough desperado and cutthroat.
They lounged about the fire in various att.i.tudes, with the exception of one who, at a little distance, walked back and forth in front of the black mouth of a cave. The latter was a guard.
The night wind had a chill in it, and they drew their robes about them, moving yet a little nearer the fire.
Two of them seemed unprepared to spend any time at night in lying before a fire in the open air, for they were unprotected save by their ordinary clothes. One was a man of forty-five, the other a youth of twenty-one.
The first was Tyrus Helorus; the second Maro Veturia. Finally the young man spoke to the other in a low tone.
”It is now nightfall, and there can be no further danger that possible pursuers might see us leaving this place. Let us be going.”
”Be patient,” answered Tyrus, in the same guarded tone. ”When he is willing that we should depart, my friend, Donatus, will speak. He is buried in thought now.”
As he said this, he s.h.i.+fted his position slightly in order to observe the figure of a bearded man that reclined on his elbow almost opposite them, gazing straight into the changing flames. The figure was ma.s.sive, yet graceful. The curling beard was dark, as were the eyes. His face was that of one used to command. It was cruel, yet in a way strikingly handsome.
This was the man who called himself Donatus and who dared lead his lawless band to the very gates of Athens. Indeed, for all of the price on his head, it was said he often entered the city unaccompanied.
Donatus was a Suliote, at one time a chief, but robbed of his power by the government which refused to recognize his authority and which dispersed and intimidated his followers. In vain he had sought to return to the old ways of living. Being baffled, he became an outlaw indeed, preying on his fellow men. With the exception of Tyrus and Maro, these were his followers.
”I like not that look on his face,” muttered Maro. ”I don't know why I fancy it, but I'll swear he is thinking of my Flavia this minute.”
”Hus.h.!.+” cautioned Tyrus, in alarm. ”Be careful what you say, if you value your life!”