ts affect me not. I have not taken my
place here without a perfect knowledge of all its dangers and
consequences. You had better come peaceably to terms; for, were it even
the case that you could escape _me_, you have only to cast your eye up
the path before you, to be assured of the utter impossibility of
escaping those who aid me. The same glance will also show you the
tollgate, which you could not see before. Look ahead, young sir, and be
wise in time; and let me perform my duties without hindrance."

Casting a furtive glance on the point indicated by the ruffian, the
youth saw, for the first time, a succession of bars--a rail fence, in
fact, of more than usual height--completely crossing the narrow pathway
and precluding all passage. Approaching the place of strife, the same
glance assured him, were two men, well armed, evidently the accomplices
of the robber who had pointed to them as such. The prospect grew more
and more perilous, and the youth, whose mind was one of that sort which
avails itself of its energies seemingly only in emergencies, beheld his
true course, with a moment's reflection, and hesitated not a single
moment in its adoption. He saw that something more was necessary than to
rid himself merely of the ruffian immediately before him, and that an
unsuccessful blow or shot would leave him entirely at the mercy of the
gang. To escape, a free rein must be given to the steed, on which he
felt confident he could rely; and, though prompted by the most natural
impulse to send a bullet through the head of his assailant, he wisely
determined on a course which, as it would be unlooked for, had therefore
a better prospect of success.

Without further pause, drawing suddenly from his bosom the bowie-knife
commonly worn in those regions, and bending forward, he aimed a blow at
the ruffian, which, as he had anticipated, was expertly eluded--the
assailant, sinking under the neck of the steed, and relying on the
strength of the rein, which he still continued to hold, to keep him from
falling, while at the same time he kept the check upon the horse.

This movement was that which the youth had looked for and desired. The
blow was but a feint, for, suddenly turning the direction of the knife
when his enemy was out of its reach, he cut the bridle upon which the
latter hung, and the head of the horse, freed from the restraint, was as
at once elevated in air. The suddenness of his motion whirled the
ruffian to the groun