ion of falling as he was urged he knew not
whither. After a few steps he was again halted, and then he felt himself
seized from behind and lifted bodily into a conveyance.

He quickly realized that he was in a buckboard. The slats which formed
the body of it, as his feet lit upon them, told him this. Then two men
jumped in after him and he found himself seated between them. And so he
was driven off.

In justice to Horrocks it must be said that he experienced no fear.
True, his chagrin was very great. He saw only too plainly what want of
discretion he had displayed in trusting to the Breed's story, but he
felt that his previous association with the rascal warranted his
credulity, and the outcome must be regarded as the fortune of war. He
only wondered what strange experience this blindfold journey was to
forerun. There was not the least doubt in his mind as to whose was the
devising of this well-laid and well-carried-out plot. Retief, he knew,
must be answerable for the plan, and the method displayed in its
execution plainly showed him that every detail had been carefully
thought out, and administered by only too willing hands. That there was
more than ordinary purpose in this blindfold journey he felt assured,
and he racked his brains to discover the desperado's object. He even
found time to speculate as to how it had fared with his men, only here
he was even more at a loss than in the case of his own ultimate fate.

In less than half an hour from the time of his capture the buckboard
drew up beside some bush. Horrocks knew it was a bluff. He could hear
the rustle of the leaves as they fluttered in the gentle night air. Then
he was unceremoniously hustled to the ground, and, equally
unceremoniously, urged forward until his feet trod upon the stubbly,
breaking undergrowth. Next he was brought to a stand and swung round,
face about, his bonds were removed, and four powerful hands gripped his
arms. By these he was drawn backwards until he bumped against a
tree-trunk. His hands were then again made fast, but this time his arms
embraced the tree behind him. In this manner he was securely trussed.

Now from behind--his captors were well behind him--a hand reached over,
and, by a swift movement, removed the bandage from before his eyes.
Then, before he had time to turn his head, he heard a scrambling through
the bush, and, a moment later, the sound of the creaking buckboard
rapidly receding. He was left alone; and, after on