The wind blew aside the flame and smoke which came from the burning pitch, but it shone brightly through the gloom and permitted the boy to be distinctly seen.

Whence had the nimble fellow come so quickly?
How had he succeeded, in this fierce gale, in kindling the torch so soon into a powerful flame?
Was it not foolish to let a child amuse itself in the middle of the night with so dangerous a toy?
Hermon hastily thought over these questions, but the supposition that the light of the torch might be intended for a signal did not occur to him.
Besides, the boy and the light in his hand occupied his mind only a short time.

He had better things to think of.

With what longing Myrtilus must now be expecting his arrival! But the Gaul needed his aid no less urgently than his friend.

Accurately as he knew what remedies relieved Myrtilus in severe attacks of illness, he could scarcely dispense with an assistant or a leech for the other, and the idea swiftly flashed upon him that the wounded man would afford him an opportunity of seeing Ledscha again.
She had told him more than once about the healing art possessed by old Tabus on the Owl's Nest.