from his girdle,
when suddenly there was a rush of feet, and in a moment he was
seized. The thought flashed through his mind that he had fallen
into the power of his late guardians, but a glance showed that the
men standing round were strangers.

"Well, comrade, and who are you?" the man who was evidently the
leader asked. "You have saved us some trouble. We were sleeping a
hundred yards or two away, when we heard the horseman, and saw, as
he passed, he was the Jew of Warsaw, to whom two or three of us owe
our ruin, and it did not need more than a word for us to agree to
wait for him till he came back. We were surprised when we saw you,
still more so when the Jew jumped from his horse and attacked you.
We did not interfere, because, if he had got the best of you, he
might have jumped on his horse and ridden off, but directly he fell
we ran out, but you were so busy in taking the spoil that you did
not hear us.

"I see the Jew is dead; fell on his own knife. It is just as well
for him, for we should have tied him to a tree, and made a bonfire
of him, if we had caught him."

Charlie understood but little of this, but said when the other
finished:

"I understand but little Polish."

"What are you then--a Russian? You do not look like one."

"I am an Englishman, and am working in the house of Allan Ramsay, a
Scotch trader in Warsaw."

"Well, you are a bold fellow anyhow, and after the smart way in
which you disposed of this Jew, and possessed yourself of his
purse, you will do honour to our trade."

"I hope you will let me go," Charlie said. "My friends in Warsaw
will pay a ransom for me, if you will let me return there."

"No, no, young fellow. You would of course put down this Jew's
death to our doing, and we have weight enough on our backs already.
He is a man of great influence, and all his tribe would be pressing
on the government to hunt us down. You shall go with us, and the
purse you took from Ben Soloman will pay your footing."

Charlie saw that it would be useless to try and alter the man's
decision, especially as he knew so little of the language. He
therefore shrugged his shoulders, and said that he was ready to go
with them, if it must be so.

The Jew's body was now thoroughly searched. Various papers were
found upon him, but, as these proved useless to the brigands, they
were torn up.

"Shall we take the horse with us?" one of the men asked the leader.

"No, it would be worse than useless i