had become unmanageable,
and was caracoling about the yard between the men and the gateway in
such a manner that they dared not attempt to win past her.

"You have scared him with your bellowing," she panted, tugging at the
bridle, and all but backed into the constable who had been endeavouring
to get round behind her. The beast continued its wild prancing, and the
Duke abated nothing in his furious profanity, until suddenly the groom,
having relinquished to Diana the reins of the other horse, sprang to
Ruth's assistance and caught her bridle in a firm grasp which brought
the animal to a standstill.

"You fool!" she hissed at him, and half raised her whip to strike, but
checked on the impulse, bethinking her in time that, after all, what the
poor lad had done he had done thinking her distressed.

The constable and a couple of his fellows won through; others were
rousing the stable and getting to horse, and in the courtyard all was
bustle and commotion. Meanwhile, however, Mr. Wilding and Trenchard had
made the most of their start, and were thundering through the town.

CHAPTER XII. AT THE FORD

As Mr. Wilding and Nick Trenchard rode hell-to-leather through Taunton
streets they never noticed a horseman at the door of the Red Lion Inn.
But the horseman noticed them. He looked up at the sound of their wild
approach, started upon recognizing them, and turned in his saddle as
they swept past him to call upon them excitedly to stop.

"Hi!" he shouted. "Nick Trenchard! Hi! Wilding!" Then, seeing that they
either did not hear or did not heed him, he loosed a volley of oaths,
wheeled his horse about, drove home the spurs, and started in pursuit.
Out of the town he followed them and along the road towards Walford,
shouting and clamouring at first, afterwards in a grim and angry
silence.

Now, despite their natural anxiety for their own safety, Wilding and
Trenchard had by no means abandoned their project of taking cover by the
ford to await the messenger whom Albemarle and the others would no
doubt be sending to Whitehall; and this mad fellow thundering after them
seemed in a fair way to mar their plan. As they reluctantly passed the
spot they had marked out for their ambush, splashed through the ford and
breasted the rising ground beyond, they took counsel. They determined
to stand and meet this rash pursuer. Trenchard calmly opined that if
necessary they must shoot him; he was, I fear, a bloody-minded fellow
at bo