The Keepers of the People

1337The ride that night covered other ground, a loop-shaped course, bringing them very near the camp of the Varandal cavalry, and then bearing away to the North. They found the temper of the people changing; it was growing fiercer. Their suspense had deepened as the stories had come of the continuous swarm of Russians pouring through the pass, and it was wearing them; the wanton burning of the villages was rankling. As on the night before, the villagers were gathered round old soldiers; but they were telling their stories to the sinister accompaniment of old blades sharpening on grindstones. Once, as Althea listened, from under the shadow of the trees, to a crowd, a young girl started up in the midst, and cried, “When, oh, when will they begin killing them?” and the fierce murmur that followed the outcry, showed how nearly she voiced their temper. The murmur too that followed the passing of Althea had changed its tone; it was no longer awed, but fierce, as though they hailed in her the harbinger of blood.

1338Little by little the need of giving her whole mind to her horse, the slow growth of weariness as the miles flew by, relaxed Ruth’s tense nerves; her breath began once more to come and go in long natural draughts; and when after many hours she laid her head on her pillow, her eyelids fell heavy, and she slept as they fell.