The young actress, wild with terror, turned
to fly and call for help, but before she could stir, or utter a sound,
a hand was clapped over her mouth, and she felt herself lifted from the
ground. The old blind beggar, who, as by a miracle, had suddenly become
young and active, and possessed of all his faculties, had seized her by
the shoulders, while the boy took her by the feet, and they carried her
swiftly and silently round a clump of bushes near by to where a man on
horseback and masked, was waiting for them. Two other men, also mounted
and masked, and armed to the teeth, were standing close at hand, behind
a wall that prevented their being seen from the road. Poor Isabelle,
nearly fainting with fright, was lifted up in front of the first
horseman, and seated on a cloak folded so as to serve for a cushion; a
broad leather strap being passed round her waist, which also encircled
that of the rider, to hold her securely in her place. All this was done
with great rapidity and dexterity, as if her captors were accustomed
to such manoeuvres, and then the horseman, who held her firmly with one
hand, shook his bridle with the other, drove his spurs into the horse's
sides, and was off like a flash--the whole thing being done in less
time than it takes to describe it.
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