the other. Matches were blown, and the priming of the arquebuses
looked to; then they gathered round the ropes, and listened for the
tramp of horses.

Although it was but a few minutes before it came, the time seemed long
to those waiting; but at last a vague sound was heard, which rapidly
rose into a loud trampling of horses. The marauders had been riding
quietly until they neared the wood, as speed was no object; but as they
wished to take the village by surprise--and it was just possible that
they might have been seen approaching--they were now riding rapidly.

Suddenly the earth gave way under the feet of the horses of the captain
and his lieutenant, who were riding at the head of the troop, and men
and animals disappeared from the sight of those who followed. The two
men behind them pulled their horses back on their haunches, and checked
them at the edge of the pit into which their leaders had fallen.

As they did so a loud crack was heard, and a great tree came crashing
down, falling directly upon them, striking them and their horses to the
ground. A loud cry of astonishment and alarm rose from those behind,
followed by curses and exclamations of rage. A few seconds after the
fall of the tree there was a crash in the rear of the party, and to
their astonishment the freebooters saw that another tree had fallen
there, and that a barricade of boughs and leaves closed their way behind
as in front. Deprived of their leaders, bewildered and alarmed at this
strange and unexpected occurrence, the marauders remained irresolute.
Two or three of those in front got off their horses and tried to make
their way to the assistance of their comrades who were lying crushed
under the mass of foliage, and of their leaders in the pit beyond.

But now almost simultaneously two more crashes were heard, and a tree
from each side fell upon them. Panic stricken now the horsemen strove to
dash through the underwood, but their progress was arrested, for among
the bushes ropes had been fastened from tree to tree; stakes had been
driven in, and the bushes interlaced with cords. The trees continued to
fall till the portion of the road occupied by the troop was covered by a
heap of fallen wood and leaf. Then for the first time the silence in the
wood beyond them was broken, the flashes of firearms darted out from the
brushwood, and then with a shout a number of men armed with pikes and
axes sprang forward to the attack.

A few only of the m