High up on the door-post of a church appeared the bloody imprint of a child's hand.

How had it come there?
Grass and weeds were growing in the marketplace, and a millstone covered the village well.

Here and there a lean and hungry dog crept forth at the horsemen's approach, howled dismally, and then retreated among the ruins.
After this scene of devastation was passed, the highway led the riders along the bank of a stream, on both sides of which smelting works had been erected, as this region is rich in gold-producing ore; but nothing except charred ruins was now left of the buildings.

At intervals a deserted mill was passed, its wheel still turning idly under the impulse of the tireless stream.

Leaving this mining district behind, the two riders came to a settlement of a different sort, which had not been given over entirely to destruction.