"He is wicked and powerful enough to commit his crimes with impunity," answered the Gipsy girl; "let me pray you earnestly, therefore, to complete the benefit you have rendered me, and to follow my advice by hastening from hence; for I feel confident, that he will endeavour to revenge himself on you, for your interference in my favour, and will return shortly with a greater number of men than you could possibly resist." "You speak truly, I believe," said Ivan, "and we shall do well to follow your advice." "You are always in the right, Ivan," answered Thaddeus, "so I suppose we may beat a retreat after our victory, without dishonour, when an overpowering force threatens us." "Oh! yes!--yes!" exclaimed the liberated girl, "hasten from hence; and believe me, there is not a moment to be lost. Yet, grant me but the one favour more, of allowing my kindred and friends to return you those thanks which my words cannot fully convey." "We will, at all events, see you in safety," answered Ivan, "and, at your desire, we will avoid the chance of meeting your enemies, however little we have reason to fear them." They accordingly prepared to quit the scene of their encounter, and Ivan was about to offer to raise the fairy-like form of the Gipsy girl on his horse, when the slight exertion he made, caused the blood to flow more freely from his side, and she caught sight of the red stream trickling down, which he himself had not observed, for the pain was but slight, and the excitement of action had diverted his attention from it. The colour for an instant deserted her cheek, as taking a light scarf from under her cloak, she petitioned him to allow her to bind his wound. "You are hurt, Sir," she exclaimed, "and I am the unhappy cause of the injury. My tribe have some skill in surgery: even I myself have received instruction in the art from an aged woman learned in simples, and thus think me not bold in making the offer, but as the slightest mark of my gratitude, let me be allowed to heal the wound I have been the cause of your receiving."