He folded up the letter and gave it to the captain.  There was no means of fastening it, but this mattered little, because, being written in English, there was no chance of its being read.  The captain handed it to one of the men, with instructions for its delivery.  The messenger started at once.  The others, after remaining a short time in the hut, set out through the forest.

After an hour’s walking, Charlie was unable to go further.  The captain, seeing this, ordered four of the men to stop with him, and to follow the next morning.  As soon as he had gone on with the rest of the band, the men set about collecting sticks and making a fire.  Charlie, who was utterly exhausted, threw himself on the ground, and was not long before he fell sound asleep.

When he awoke, the shades of evening were already falling, and the men were sitting over the fire, roasting a portion of a goat, one of a flock they had fallen in with in the wood, where large numbers roamed about in a semi-wild state.

The man who could speak Swedish was one of those who had remained with him, and, from him, he learnt that the present headquarters of the band were some six miles farther away.  This distance was performed next morning, frequent halts being made to enable him to sit down and rest; and it was not till five hours after the start that they arrived.

Overgrown as it now was, with trees and undergrowth, he could see that a village once stood there.  It must, however, have been abandoned a very long time, as trees of considerable size grew among the low walls and piles of stones that marked where cottages had stood.  The place occupied by the brigands had, in former times, been a castellated building of some strength, standing on a knoll in the middle of the village, which had probably been inhabited by the retainers of its owner.  Part of the wall had fallen, but a large arched room, that had doubtless been the banqueting hall of the castle, remained almost intact, and here the brigands had established themselves.  Several fires burned on the flagged floors, the smoke finding its way out through holes and crevices in the roof.  Some fifty men were gathered round these, and were occupied in cooking their midday meal.

“I am glad to see that you have arrived,” the captain said, coming across to Charlie.  “I expected you two hours ago, and intended, as soon as we had finished our meal, to send out another four men to meet you and help to carry you in.”

“Thank you,” Charlie said.  “It is not the men’s fault we are late, but the last part of the way we came on very slowly.  I was getting so exhausted that I had to stop every few hundred yards.”

“Well, you had better eat something, and then lie down for a sleep.  Meat is plentiful with us, for there are thousands of goats in the forest, and occasionally we get a deer or wild boar.  If we had but bread and wine we should live like nobles.  Our supplies, however, are low at present, and we shall have to make an expedition, tomorrow or next day, to replenish them.”