“And were you not afraid to hear that disembodied voice?” Gervase asked, “if it be that it was not more than your fancy?”
“Wherefore should I be afraid? was it not the voice of my friend who spoke to me no longer in anger? I know that my sin is forgiven. Some day, my lad,” he continued, with the kindly and almost caressing tone he had adopted towards Gervase, “some day you will understand what I mean, but not yet. Now forget what I have spoken and help me with your young and nimble wits.”
“It is madness for you to dream of it,” Gervase answered. “No man could reach the ships by the water alone, and to land would be certain death.”
“When we were campaigning on the Danube I swam further than that and was none the worse for it, while the Janissaries were potting at us from their flat-bottomed boat a good part of the way. But this is an old story now.”
“Ay! and you were a young man then. If any should undertake this task, why should not I? I am sick and weary to death of what I have seen yonder, and I had rather die once and for all than die by inches. Were there but a chance----”
“My lad, you must not think of it. You are young and there is still need for you in the world. The bonnie wench yonder could ill spare you; but there´ll be none, but mayhap yourself, to wait for the home-coming of Ninian Macpherson; and the folk yonder are worth venturing a man´s life for. I have been through many a siege, but I think since the beginning of time there hath been none like this.”
“Truly there is a fat Cathedral yard,” said Gervase bitterly, “and God knows when it will end. There are two more of Simon´s sturdy lads dead yesterday, and I hardly think the little girl I told you of will hold out till the morning.”
“Poor soul, poor soul!” he continued, “and to think that it should all be happening under that--” and he lifted up his hand. The night was clear and cloudless. The river lay before them reflecting the starlight in its calm unbroken waters, and the moon lifted its slender crescent through a mellow haze. They were about to retrace their steps along the lines when Macpherson, whose sight was marvellously keen, caught sight of a figure moving rapidly under the shelter of a sunken fence. He had seen it for a moment as it showed clear against the river, as it made its way swiftly in the shadow. He caught Gervase by the arm, pulling him under cover of the embankment.