heart
to think that the honest couple would have to complete their marketing
on foot; but I promised them in my mind that if the beast was one of
sense and natural affection, it should find its way home sooner or later
when its present task was done.

A short ride now cleared me of the town and brought me on to the road
which follows the canal to Delft. It was already dark, and as I ambled
past the lofty windmills that skirt the canal, I met scarcely a soul.
Presently at a junction of roads I distinguished a little way back from
the highroad the roof of a building almost hidden in trees, and closed
round with a high wall. A thick, nail-studded gate, surmounted by a
cross, marked the entrance. Here, then, was my destination.

I reined in my horse under the deepest shadow of the wall, within view
of the portal, and waited. To pass the time, I took from my pocket the
pistol which had lain there all the while I was in the water, and
drawing the wet charge, replaced it with powder and shot which I had
taken the precaution to provide myself with before I left the _Scheldt_.

Then it occurred to me, if I was to play highwayman, I could do it more
securely out in the solitary road than within earshot of the holy
sisters, who might harbour within their precincts watch-dogs, human or
animal, who could spoil sport of that kind.

So I rode a little way back on my steps and halted under a clump of
trees at the cross-roads, straining my ears impatiently for the noise of
wheels.

Nearly an hour elapsed before they came, and I concluded Miss Kit must
have taken my advice and given her custodian a bad time of it before she
permitted herself to be conducted from the ship to the vehicle. Now the
wheels advanced rapidly, and the frequent crack of the driver's whip
showed that Martin was trying to make up for lost time.

I could see as they approached that the two men were on the box, leaving
the inside to the ladies. The driver was evidently pointing out the
roof of the convent, dimly visible among the trees, and a face at the
open window was peering out in the same direction.

At that moment I darted out of my hiding-place, and firing my pistol in
the air, but near enough to the driver's ears to make him jump, shouted
gruffly,--

"_Haltez la_!"

The horse came up short on his haunches. The terror-stricken men gaped
round in a dazed way and tumbled off on the far side of the coach, while
the maid within uttered a loud scr