"I scarcely breathed, but in all my life I never thought with such
lightning rapidity. My whole household over here was distinct before me,
with my husband and the children, and what they would do on getting the
cablegram saying 'waylaid and murdered.'

"I thought of a myriad things. I remember, amongst others, that it
worried me to think that an over-charge of five shillings from Perkins
for fowl, which my husband had just written to ask about, would now be
paid because I could never explain that the pair of chickens had been
returned. All this time--only a moment or two, you know--I was expecting
instant death, while Louis and the horses remained motionless.

"The smoke from the revolver slowly cleared away; a bat, startled by the
noise, flapped against my face, and we saw the highwayman seated on his
horse, standing immovable where he was, his right arm stretching out
towards us with the same deadly aim.

"'If that man is mortal, he should have dropped,' said Louis softly.
'Both bullets struck him.'

"We waited a moment longer. The figure remained as before.

"'I must reconnoitre,' said Louis; 'I don't understand his tactics.'
And, to my dismay, he prepared to get out of the wagon.

"'Are you going away?' I asked breathlessly.

"'Yes; sit still--the horses won't stir. I'm going to open fire at close
quarters.'

"I thought Louis's attempt at jocularity most ill-timed, but I said
nothing. It seemed to me an immense time that he was gone, but he
declares that it was not more than a minute and a quarter. Then I heard
him laugh quietly to himself.

"'All right, come on,' he said to me. 'Gee, whoa, haw, get up, girlies,'
he said to the horses, and those sagacious beasts immediately walked
straight towards the spot whence his voice came, without paying the
least attention to me, who was holding the reins so tight, as I thought.

"'Well, Milly, I suppose you'll never stop laughing,' was the first
thing he said to me when the horses came to a standstill, with their
noses almost in his beard.

"'I never felt less like laughing,' I replied, hardly daring to believe
that the peril was past and that I was still alive.

"'Our highwayman is an old stump, don't you see?' exclaimed Louis. I
looked again and saw that what he said was true; a gnarled tree stump,
some twisted branches, a deceiving white vapour, and perhaps, too, our
own vivid imaginations, these were the elements which had given birth to
our highwayman.