one might be in hiding there, ready to spring out."

He had hardly thought this when he uttered a cry of horror, swung round,
and ran as hard as he could back toward the crown of the hill, for all
at once there was a peculiar sound, like the magnified hiss of some
large serpent, and, looking up, he could dimly see against the starlit
sky a gigantic head with curling horns, whose owner was evidently gazing
down upon him where he stood in the middle of the lane twenty feet
below.

Sam Brandon must have run five hundred yards back before want of breath
compelled a slackening of speed, and his panic fear gave place to
common-sense.

"What a fool I am!" he said to himself, with wonderful accuracy; "it
must have been some precious old cow."

This thought brought him quite to a stand, and after a little
consideration, he felt so certain of the cause of his alarm that he
turned and continued his route again toward the village, reaching the
dark part, hesitating for a few moments before going on, and now hearing
up to the left and over the dimly-seen hedgerow the regular _crop, crop,
crop_ of some animal grazing upon the crisp dew-wet grass.

"If anybody had told me," he muttered, "that I could have been scared by
a jolly old cow, I should have kicked him. How absurd!"

He walked on now firmly enough, till, in spite of the darkness, the road
became more familiar, and in due time he could see the lights at
Heatherleigh, and looking up to his right against the starry sky, the
top of the great mill.

It was too soon, he felt, and turning back, pretty well strung up now to
what was rapidly assuming the aspect of a desperate venture, he walked
on till the golden sand looked light upon his left, and showed a way
into the wood. Here he turned off, walked cautiously in amongst the
tall columns for a few yards, and then sat down on the fir-needles,
listened to find that all was still, and taking out cigarette-case and
match-box he struck a light and began to smoke, sheltering the bright
burning end of the little roll of tobacco, and trying as he rested to
improve his plans.

For he was hot and tired. He had found the station beyond Furzebrough
quite seven miles from the village, and being a perfectly fresh route to
him, it had seemed twice as far; while the fact that he wished to keep
his visit a profound secret forced him to refrain from asking questions
as to the way, after being instructed by the station-master at the
fir