He was thrilled by drum-beats and the cry
of trumpets. Then his mood changed and the mountains and calm stars
spoke an heroic language that was of newer and nobler things; and he
shook his head impatiently and gathered his cloak about him and rose.
"God said, 'I am tired of kings,'" he muttered. "But I shall keep my
pledge; I shall do Austria a service," he said; and then laughed a little
to himself. "To think that it may be for me to say!" And with this he
walked quite to the brink of the chasm and laid his hand upon the iron
cable from which swung the bridge.
"I shall soon be free," he said with a deep sigh; and looked across the
starlighted hills.
Then the cable under his hand vibrated slightly; at first he thought it
the night wind stealing through the vale and swaying the bridge above the
sheer depth. But still he felt the tingle of the iron rope in his clasp,
and his hold tightened and he bent forward to listen. The whole bridge
now audibly shook with the pulsation of a step--a soft, furtive step, as
of one cautiously groping a way over the unsubstantial flooring. Then
through the starlight he distinguished a woman's figure, and drew back.
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