Culverhouse said nothing, but he set his teeth hard and his eyes flashed ominously.  He had never tasted real warfare before, and it seemed to fire the blood in his veins and send it tingling through his body.  Each rider so shifted his carbine that it could be readily used at a moment’s notice.

And now they had reached the forest aisle.  Their good horses, still galloping freely and easily, bore them rapidly onwards.  They had almost reached that silent, motionless band awaiting them with sinister quietude.  In another moment they would have passed them, when, on a sudden, a voice rang out clear and sharp through the still air: 

“Halt! stand!  Stand, or we fire!”

“Ride on and fire!” said Sir Richard in calm tones; and the next moment the echoes were awakened by three sharp reports of firearms and by a yell—­three yells—­of human rage and pain.  A roar of execration and menace arose from twenty throats, and twenty blades gleamed brightly in the gathering dusk.  But already the riders had passed the little band, sweeping by before they were well aware of it.  And as they did so, they heard a voice exclaim, sharpened by rage and pain: 

“It is they—­it is our foes!  I knew it—­I knew it!  Those are the Trevlyn brood that we were warned would pass—­the false sire and his son and nephew.  After them, my men!  Let them not escape your vengeance!  Take them, or slay them, but let them not escape!  They have the treasure.  We will have them.  The vengeance of the gipsy tribe shall be consummated!  They shall not make it void.  They shall give life for life—­blood for blood!”

“They shall! they shall!  They shall not escape us.  We will be avenged, and the red gold shall be our reward!”

Sir Richard set his teeth as he heard these words, and dug his spurs into the sides of his horse, causing the noble animal, who seemed to share his master’s knowledge of the deadly peril they were in, to spring forward with redoubled speed.

“We must save ourselves by flight; they are six to one!” he said in low tones to his companions, who kept pace for pace at his side.  “It will be a race for life; and if we are beaten, all we can do is to sell our lives as dearly as may be.  It is not robbery alone, it is vengeance, the old grudge against the Trevlyns.  But if we can but make Cross Way House ere we are outridden, we may save ourselves yet.”

Chapter 24:  Kate’s Courage.

Lady Humbert had left the Cross Way House for a three days’ visit to a sick relative who had sent an urgent message to her.  Mistress Dowsabel remained in charge of the house and its small establishment, lessened considerably by the removal of four of the men servants who had attended their mistress on her journey.