ll, a quarter of a mile off. "More
foes climbing the hill!" Basil muttered; "I know their tread. Why do
not our men come down, and give them the meeting? Ah, they _are_
coming! praise to Saint Basil! I hear them--I see them;" and he lifted
his head cautiously, and fixed his lynx eyes on a point where the
hillside met the pale blue sky. "They are pouring down--twenty, thirty
of them! Not one would stay behind, I warrant! Ah, why must I?"

"Why must you, husband?" responded Spira, but in a submissive tone.
"Go, and trust me to guide our lady to her husband. I will die sooner
than any harm should befall her."

It was a tempting offer, but the noble fellow resisted it. "Go to," he
said, still in the same low voice. "What! leave our Nilo's preserver to
the care of a woman, and of a prating boy that knows not how to take
care of himself? Peace, woman! not another word!"

We climbed the rock at the first practicable place, Basil mounting
first, and lowering one end of his "strucca" for me to hold by. Mr
Popham followed, saying, playfully, in my ear, "Ticklish work, ain't it;
this holding on by one's nails and eyebrows?"

Poor, poor John! yet why should I say so? No doubt, Providence ordered
all that should befall him, and ordered it in mercy. He was of too
yielding a nature, perhaps, to fight the battle of life, yet too
tender-hearted and right-minded to err without anguish of spirit. Yes,
I see now, and Laurie sees, that all was ordered for the best! But to
proceed.

We now crept towards the left, on a narrow ledge surmounted by a natural
wall, similar to that we had scaled. This wall and the shelf beneath
it, jutted out at one point so as to conceal all beyond it; when Basil
reached the spot, he looked stealthily round the angle of the rock, drew
back sharply, shouldered his gun, and signed to Mr Popham to do the
same. At that instant, two shots were fired by the unseen foes, but
fell harmless. Basil advanced, partially screened by the rock, took aim
and fired; then I heard branches crashing. Certainly the enemy had been
struck or fled; but there were more behind,--three, four, turbaned Turks
pressing round the corner! Basil, seeing them, flung down his gun and
threw himself upon the foremost. The Turk seemed not much behind him in
strength, and for several terrible minutes they wrestled together, John
Popham's threatening attitude as he stood ready to fire, keeping the
others at bay. The struggl