eelings. He had been
done--outwitted--and he knew it. Done--like the veriest tenderfoot. He,
an officer of wide experience and of considerable reputation. And worst
of all he remembered Lablache's warning. He, the money-lender, had been
more far-seeing--had understood something of the trap which he,
Horrocks, had plunged headlong into. The thought was as worm-wood to the
prairie man, and helped to cloud his judgment as he now sought for the
best course to adopt. He saw now with bitter, mental self-reviling, how
the story that Gautier had told him--and for which he had paid--and
which had been corroborated by the conversation he had heard in the
camp, had been carefully prepared by the wily Retief; and how he, like a
hungry, simple fish, had deliberately risen and devoured the bait. He
was maddened by the thought, too, that the money-lender had been right
and he wrong, and took but slight solace from the fact that the chief
disaster had overtaken that great man.

However, it was plain that something must be done at once to assist
Lablache, and he cast about in his mind for the best means to secure the
money-lender's release. In his dilemma a recollection came to him of the
presence of Jacky Allandale in the barn, and a feeling nearly akin to
revenge came to him. He felt that in some way this girl was connected
with, and knew of, the doings of Retief.

With a hurried order to remain where they were to his men he returned to
his station at the window of the barn. He looked in, searching for the
familiar figure of the girl. Dancing had ceased, and the howling Breeds
were drinking heavily. Jacky was no longer to be seen, and, with bitter
disappointment, he turned again to rejoin his companions. There was
nothing left to do but to hasten to the settlement and procure fresh
horses.

He had hardly turned from the window when several shots rang out on the
night air. They came from the direction in which he was moving.
Instantly he comprehended that an attack was being made upon his
troopers. He drew his pistol and dashed forward at a run. Three paces
sufficed to terminate his race. Silence had followed the firing of the
shots he had heard. Suddenly his quick ears detected the hiss of a
lariat whistling through the air. He spread out his arms to ward it off.
He felt something fall upon them. He tried to throw it off, and, the
next instant the rope jerked tight round his throat, and he was hurled,
choking, backwards upon the gr