CHAPTER XIX.On a certain calm night a band of horsemen, about twenty in number, moved along the right bank of the Valadinka in the direction of the Dniester. They went very slowly, the horses almost dragging one foot after the other. A short distance in front of the others rode two, as it were an advance guard; but evidently there was no cause for guarding or being on the watch, since for a whole hour they had been talking together instead of looking at the country about them. Reining in their horses every little while, they looked at the party behind, and one of them called out at this moment: “Slowly there! slowly!“ And the others went still more slowly, scarcely moving.
At last the party, pushing out from behind the eminence which had covered them with its shadow, entered the open coun
