hort, for the fellow's clumsiness
made him an easy victim for the slender youth. Pinked but slightly in
the arm, he gave vent to an unearthly howl and, turning away, he fled
through the dark aisles of the woods, his diminishing shrieks denoting
the speed and length of his flight.

But Johan's victory came not a second too soon, for just at that
moment Lindley's sword dropped from his hand, the blood spurting from
a deep wound in his shoulder. With a low snarl of victory, the
highwayman drew back his arm to plunge his sword into his victim's
breast, but Johan, springing forward and picking Lindley's weapon from
the ground, hurled himself upon their assailant.

"Not so fast, my friend," he cried, and in another second blades were
again flashing. Lindley, who for a moment had been overwhelmed by the
shock of his wound, raised a useless voice in protest. Johan's own
voice drowned every sound as he drove his antagonist now this way, now
that, quite at his own will.

The moon, in its last quarter, was just rising above the trees, and
the narrow glade was lighted with its weird, fantastic glow. From one
side of the road to the other, the shadowy figures moved, the steel
blades flashing in the glinting light, Johan's short, sharp cries
punctuating the song of the swords. Lindley could hear the ruffian's
heavy breathing as Johan forced him up the bank that edged the road.
He heard his horse's nervous whinny as the fight circled his flanks.
But Lindley was so fascinated by the brilliancy of the lad's fighting
that he had no thought of the outcome of the fray until he heard a
sudden sharp outcry. Then he saw Johan stagger back, but he saw at the
same instant that the highwayman had fallen, doubled over in a heap,
upon the ground. He saw, too, that Johan's sword, trailing on the
ground, was red with blood.

"You're hurt, lad!" Lindley, faint from loss of blood, staggered
toward the boy.

"Ay, ay, hurt desperately," moaned Johan. His voice seemed weak and
faltering.

"But how? But where? I did not see him touch you!" Lindley's left arm
encircled the lad, his right hung limp at his side.

Johan's head sank for an instant onto Lindley's shoulder.

"No, he did not touch me, 'tis no bodily hurt," he moaned; "but
I've--I've killed the man."

Lindley's support was withdrawn instantly and roughly.

"After such a fight, are you fool enough to bemoan a victory?" His
words, too, were rough. "Why, man, it was a fight to the death!