"Save you!--I can and will----" "There is but little time, then; for, by my soul, yonder come Bandolo the bravo, and the provost-marshal with his guard and assistants, carrying the fatal ladder, by which they mean to accommodate us in mounting the branches of these high trees." "Follow me, Mr. Rollo, and let me see who will dare to interrupt you." The soldiers fell back and presented arms to this well-known and formidable priest, who was as familiar to the armies of Tilly as the terrible Father du Tremblay was then known in those of France, but in a very different way--for every good, and not for every evil. Like his master's, the will and command of Ignatius d'Eydel (for so had they rendered his homely name) were as much law to the soldiers as if the cruel thin lips of Tilly had expressed them. As we passed the provost, he respectfully saluted the priest who stood by my side, in his long flowing garments. Bandolo scowled at me with rage and disappointment, but was compelled to pass on, leaving me untouched. I remembered the cruel murder of poor Dandy Dreghorn, and could scarcely keep my hands from his throat; but hoped that an hour of retribution was coming. After walking in silence along the road for some hundred yards, on looking back I saw the convulsed bodies of my eight recent companions dangling from the trees, while the provost and his guard retired leisurely towards their quarters in the town of Lauenburg. CHAPTER XXXI. OF THE GOOD DEEDS OUR MUSKETEERS WERE UNDOING. My heart sickened at the thought of all I had so providentially escaped, by the casual intervention of a passing priest. "Come, master Rollo," thought I, as gayer ideas suggested themselves; "you must not deem these Jesuits such bad fellows after all! Indeed this one seems remarkably amiable. Reverend sir," said I, as we passed the extreme outposts of Tilly's troops, and proceeded along the margin of the Elbe, "I hope you will not incur the count's displeasure by setting me free." "Displeasure--oh no! My brother, John of Tserclä--for I presume you are aware that he is a priest of our order--cannot quarrel with me for a trifling act of mercy like this." "This _trifling_ act has saved my life, but you value existence lightly on the Imperial side of the Elbe. I am full of joy and gratitude for the service you have rendered me; but why, good sir, do you seem so much dejected?" "I am indeed dejected, and sorrowful--exceedingly sorrowful!" he replied, folding his hands heavily upon his breast, and bending his eyes upon the ground. "For what, good sir?"