She had been very desirous of following her father and sharing all his perils and dangers; but it must be confessed that at this moment she was filled with fear; so, too, she probably would have been if at her father's side in battle, but she would have suppressed her fear then as she was doing now, and would have shown herself as brave and resolute as any. The doubtful-looking figures had vanished now from the wood, and, aided by the moon which just then shone out through the clouds, Talabor's sharp eyes detected three horsemen coming towards the gate. They were riding confidently, though the path was steep and narrow, with a wall of rock on one side and a sheer precipice on the other. They seemed to know the way. "Talabor!" cried Dora, as she caught sight of him standing on the wall just opposite her, between the low but massive battlements. "Directly!" answered Talabor, and with a whisper to Jakó the dog-keeper, who was beside him, he hurried down and came and stood below the balcony, while Dora bent over it, saying in a pleased tone, "Do you see, there are guests arriving? I think they must be friends, or at least acquaintances, by the way they ride." "Yes, I do, mistress!" answered Talabor. "They have the appearance of visitors certainly, but they have come from those other questionable-looking folk, so we will be careful. Trust me, I have my wits about me." "There are three," said Dora, after a short pause, and as if the answer did not quite satisfy her. "How can we tell whether they have any evil intentions or not?" "We shall see; but I must go back to my place." "Go to the gate tower." "I am going!" said Talabor, and without waiting for further orders, he ran back, first to his former post on the wall, where he spoke to the wild-looking dog-keeper and the two armed men who had joined him, and then to the tower flanking the gate, from a slit-like opening in which he could see the moat, and the space opposite formed by a clearing in the wood. The gate-keeper had not noticed the approach of the "guests," as Dora called them, for the window was too narrow to give any view of the breakneck path, along which the riders were advancing, now hidden in the hollows, now reappearing among the juniper bushes and wild roses. They were within a short distance of the moat now, and were making straight for the gate. "Quick!" said Talabor to the porter, "go and fetch the governor! I'll take your place meantime; and tell him to be on his guard, but not to raise any alarm. It would be as well if he could get our young mistress to leave that open balcony, for some impudent arrow, if not a spear, might find its way there." The gate-keeper stared for a moment, and then went off without a word.