t enough round a thumb. At
any rate we sha'n't starve; but we must move on pretty fast, for we
shall have to get up a warm hut in the forest, and to lay in a
stock of provisions before the winter sets in. So we must only stop
to gather a little plunder when a good opportunity offers."

Chapter 12: Treed By Wolves.

Charlie and Stanislas were, that evening, sitting apart from the
rest, at a short distance from the fire, talking over the future.
They agreed that it would be comparatively easy to withdraw from
the band as they journeyed forward, if, as seemed likely, they
travelled in very small parties. If, indeed, they found themselves
with two others, they could leave openly, for these would scarcely
care to enter upon a desperate struggle, merely for the sake of
retaining two unwilling companions in the band.

The difficulties would only begin when they started alone. As they
were talking, the captain came across to them.

"I can guess," he said, "that you are talking together as to the
future. I like you, young Englishman, and I like your companion,
who seems an honest fellow, but I would not keep you with me by
force. I understand that you are not placed as we are. We have to
live. Most of us would live honestly if we could, but at present it
is the choice of doing as we do, or starving. We occasionally take
a few crowns, if we come across a fat trader, or may ease a rich
farmer of his hoard, but it is but seldom such a chance comes in
our way. As a rule, we simply plunder because we must live. It is
different with you. Your friends may be far away, but if you can
get to them you would have all that you need. Therefore, this life,
which is hard and rough, to say nothing of its danger, does not
suit you; but for all that, you must stay with us, for it would be
madness for you to attempt to escape.

"As I told you, the peasants are maddened, and would kill any
passing stranger as they would a wild beast. They would regard him
as a spy of some band like ours, or of a company of disbanded
soldiers, sent forward to discover which houses and villages are
best worth plundering. In your case, you have other dangers to
fear. You may be sure that news has been sent from Warsaw to all
the different governors, with orders for your arrest for killing
Ben Soloman, and these orders will be transmitted to every town and
village. Your hair and eyes would at once betray you as strangers,
and your ignorance of the language