"
"Mercy on us, Roland! Mercy!" moaned his former comrades.
"I have already wasted too much mercy upon you," he said. "If I rescue
you now, I shall be compelled to hang you in the morning as breakers of
law, so I may as well leave you where you are, and allow the Red
Margrave to save me the trouble. The loss of his castle will not make
him more compassionate, especially if he learns you were the cause of
it. You will then experience some refined tortures, I imagine; for, like
myself, he may think hanging too good for you. I should never have fired
his castle had it not been for your rebellion."
The men on the ground groaned but made no further appeal. Some of them
were far-seeing enough to realize that an important change had come over
the young man they thought so well known to them, who stood there with
an air of indifference, throwing out a suggestion now and then for the
more effective handling of the bales; suggestions carrying an impalpable
force of authority that caused them to be very promptly obeyed.
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