it then?"

"Both ends. It's obvious now that we should have watched the middle."

"Ah," said Foster thoughtfully; "then you knew somebody was hiding
among the trees?"

"We thought it very possible."

"Well, you know I was shot at, but I imagine the fellow got away. Do
you mean to let him go?"

Gordon laughed. "My friends tell me I'm getting fat, and I'm certainly
not so vigorous as I was. Besides, it's not my part of the business to
chase a suspected person across the hills, and I have men able to do it
better than I can. But you stopped as you entered the wood. Did you
expect to be shot at?"

"I thought it very possible," Foster answered dryly.

"A fair retort! You were shot at. Were you nearly hit?"

"I believe the fellow would have got me if he'd used a gun instead of a
pistol; but the former would, of course, have been a conspicuous thing
to carry about."

"That's true," Gordon agreed. "But, after escaping, why did you stop
here and run the risk again?"

Foster pondered. There was no sign of Pete, but he thought the latter
could be trusted to elude the police, and did not want to let Gordon
know he had felt it necessary to provide himself with a bodyguard.
Something of this kind would be obvious if he stated that he was
waiting for a companion.

"Well," he said, "it's annoying to be shot at, and when I heard
somebody running I thought I might catch the fellow off his guard. You
see, I had already gone into the wood to look for him."

"But you must have known that it would have been very rash for the man
who fired the shot to run noisily down the middle of the road."

"I suppose I was rather excited and didn't remember that," Foster
replied.

Gordon said nothing for a few moments and Foster saw that he had been
fencing with him. He had admitted that he had partly expected to be
attacked, and the other knew of the danger to which he had been
exposed. This was puzzling; but it was lucky the man had not asked his
reasons for fearing an attack. Foster believed he had not omitted to
do so from carelessness.

Then Gordon said, "I must try to find out what my men are doing. Where
are you going to stop tonight?"

Foster told him and he nodded. "I know the inn and will call there as
soon as I can. Leave your address if you go before I come."

He went away up the road and Foster, setting off again, had gone about
a mile when he heard steps behind him. Soon after he stopped Pete came
up.