y loaded, and,
thrusting it into his pocket, set out upon his walk.

The moon was shining at intervals, for the night was partially clouded.
There seemed to be nobody stirring, though his attention was unusually
awake, and he could hear the whirr of the bats overhead, and the
pulsating croak of the frogs in the distant pools and marshes. Presently
he detected the sound of hoofs at some distance, and, looking forward,
saw a horseman coming in his direction. The moon was under a cloud at
the moment, and he could only observe that the horse and his rider looked
like a single dark object, and that they were moving along at an easy
pace. Mr. Bernard was really ashamed of himself, when he found his hand
on the butt of his pistol. When the horseman was within a hundred and
fifty yards of him, the moon shone out suddenly and revealed each of them
to the other. The rider paused for a moment, as if carefully surveying
the pedestrian, then suddenly put his horse to the full gallop, and
dashed towards him, rising at the same instant in his stirrups and
swinging something round his head, what, Mr. Bernard could not make out.
It was a strange manoeuvre,--so strange and threatening in aspect that
the young man forgot his nervousness in an instant, cocked his pistol,
and waited to see what mischief all this meant. He did not wait long. As
the rider came rushing towards him, he made a rapid motion and something
leaped five-and-twenty feet through the air, in Mr. Bernard's direction.
In an instant he felt a ring, as of a rope or thong, settle upon his
shoulders. There was no time to think, he would be lost in another
second. He raised his pistol and fired,--not at the rider, but at the
horse. His aim was true; the mustang gave one bound and fell lifeless,
shot through the head. The lasso was fastened to his saddle, and his
last bound threw Mr. Bernard violently to the earth, where he lay
motionless, as if stunned.

In the mean time, Dick Venner, who had been dashed down with his horse,
was trying to extricate himself,--one of his legs being held fast under
the animal, the long spur on his boot having caught in the saddle-cloth.
He found, however, that he could do nothing with his right arm, his
shoulder having been in some way injured in his fall. But his Southern
blood was up, and, as he saw Mr. Bernard move as if he were coming to his
senses, he struggled violently to free himself.

"I 'll have the dog, yet," he said,--"onl