| Show 0 4 4 14 love or i dic dez raw t h bai rafael sabatini CO service 00 th There e r batt ailer er for a while the going was easier A natural path some three feet wide wound upwards along the precipices face at the end of this he was confronted by another gap to be surmounted only by a leap fearing lest his sword should trip him lie he un buckled his belt and cast the weapon from him he did so with regret but constrained to it by the reflection that if he kept it he might never live to need it then he took a deep breath seized his courage in both hands and jumped across the black unfathomable void at a stunted tree that thrust out from that sheer wall with arms and legs he clutched like fin an ape at the frail plant and had its hold given way under his weight there would have been an end of him forthwith it held however and clinging to it he groped tor for foothold found it and went on this brought him to a narro narrow w fissure in the cliff up this fissure he swarmed supported by just the pressure of knees and forearms against the rock roch and only at times finding a projection affording a safer grip for one or the other up straight up he went for nearly twenty feet until at last he reached the fissures summit one of its walls permitted him to get astride it and there he rested bathed in sweat and winded by the stupendous exertions he had put forth seated thus hla his breast close against the cliff he looked sideways and down into the awful depths below him lie he shuddered and clung with his bruised hands to the rock and it was some time before he could proceed upon the second halt half of his ascent for by now he knew that he was a good midway at last he resumed his climb and by similar means and surmounting similar and constant perils he pushed on and ever upwards one narrow escape he had As he clung with both hands to that awful wall at a place where the foothold was but bat a few inches wide a great brown body with a shrieking whirr dashed out of a crevice just above ills his head and went cawing and circling in the void beyond so startled was he that he almost loosed his hold and a cold sweat broke out upon his bis roughened skin as he recovered and knew the thing tor for what it was and later when an hour or so before midnight the moon wen went t down and left him in utter darkness fei tear r at last assailed his stout spirit and for a time he did not dare to move presently however as he grew accustomed to the gloom his eyes were able to pierce it to an extent that restored ills his courage the night after all was clear and starlit and at close quarters objects were just visible yet immense care was necessary lest he should now commit the irreparable error of mistaking substance for shadow or should misjudge his distances tall CeS as was so easy at long length towards midnight utterly spent with bleeding hands and rent reat garments he found himself on the roomy platform at the very foot of the castles southern wall arid and not for all the wealth of the world would he have consented to return by the way he had so miraculously ascended tor for miraculous did he now DOW account it that he be should have reached his goal in safety ue ile flung himself down full length there at the toot foot of the wall to rest awhile before attempting the escalade and what time he rested he whispered a prayer of thankfulness tor for his preservation so BO far for a devout s soul I 1 was this messer lorenzo ile he looked looke dup up at the twinkling stars out at the distant sheen of the adriatic down at the clustering hamlets in the plain so far below him from which so painfully he had climbed could hear the steady measured tread of the sentry approaching passing and receding again as the man patrolled the embattled parapet thrice did the fellow pass that way before cas stirred and when at length he be rose as the steps were fading hi the distance tor for the third time he felt a certain pity for the soldier whose spirit he must inevitably liberate from its earthly prison house that night he uncoiled the rope from his body stood back and swung the grappling hook a moment taking aim then hurled it upwards it soared above the wall and fell beyond between two mellons mer lons then thudded softly against the masonry the straw in which he had the foresight to swathe it muffling the sound of the metal he pulled gently at the rope hoping that the hooks would fasten upon some projection in the stone or lod lodge ge mme ame crevice hut but neither happened the hooks carbie cania to the summit of the life wall and toppled back falling at ills his feet again he repeated the operation with a like result but ct at the third attempt the hooks took hold lie he swung his entire weight upon the rope to test tye the grip and found that it held firmly but now the sent rys return warned him that the moment was pit pirlous lous so lie ho waited intently listening crouching at tho the walls loot foot until the man had passed and his footsteps were once more inore receding la in the distance then he began the ascent in sailor fashion hauling himself up hand over hand his feet against the masonry to lighten the labor of ills his arms thus he came swiftly to the top of the wall and knelt there between two mellons mer lons peering down into inlo the black courtyard all was silent save for the tramp of the alie sentry who was now turning the northwestern angle of the ramparts as ablesser lorenzo rightly judged no sound disturbed the stillness of the place ue ile loosed the looks from the crevice in which they had fastened he flung them wide the rope with them and sent thorn them hurtling over the precipice that there might be no evidence of the manner of ills his coming then he dropped softly down upon the parapet exulting to realize that liis his journey was accomplished and that he was within the fortress ills mission was all but ended the rest was easy within a few moments the iorala troops would be pouring into san leo and the soldiers of the garrison surprised in their beds would make a very ready surrender it no longer appeared even necessary to messer lorenzo to butcher that single sentry if lie he but wisely chose his moment for the un barring of the gates the whole thing might be done without the mans suspicions being ar aroused aused until it was too late indeed it was the safer course for after all if he came to grapple with the soldier there was always the chance that the fellow might cry out arid and give the alarm before castrocaro Castro caro could dis dispatch Datch him acon continued ti aued next week |
