e plain around it.

We had slackened our pace under the impression that all fear of pursuit
was at an end, and Reuben was amazing us by an account of the excitement
which had been caused in Havant by our disappearance, when through the
stillness of the night a dull, muffled rat-tat-tat struck upon my ear.
At the same moment Saxon sprang from his horse and listened intently
with sidelong head.

'Boot and saddle!' he cried, springing into his seat again. 'They are
after us as sure as fate. A dozen troopers by the sound. We must shake
them off, or goodbye to Monmouth.'

'Give them their heads,' I answered, and striking spurs into our steeds,
we thundered on through the darkness. Covenant and Chloe were as fresh
as could be wished, and soon settled down into a long springy gallop.
Our friend's horse however, had been travelling all day, and its
long-drawn, laboured breathing showed that it could not hold out for
long. Through the clatter of our horses' hoofs I could still from time
to time hear the ominous murmur from behind us.

'This will never do, Reuben,' said I anxiously, as the weary creature
stumbled, and the rider came perilously near to shooting over its head.

'The old horse is nearly foundered,' he answered ruefully. 'We are off
the road now, and the rough ground is too much for her.'

'Yes, we are off the track,' cried Saxon over his shoulder--for he led
us by a few paces. 'Bear in mind that the Bluecoats have been on the
march all day, so that their horses may also be blown. How in Himmel
came they to know which road we took?'

As if in answer to his ejaculation, there rose out of the still night
behind us a single, clear, bell-like note, swelling and increasing in
volume until it seemed to fill the whole air with its harmony.

'A bloodhound!' cried Saxon.

A second sharper, keener note, ending in an unmistakable howl, answered
the first.

'Another of them,' said he. 'They have loosed the brutes that we saw
near the Cathedral. Gad! we little thought when we peered over the rails
at them, a few hours ago, that they would so soon be on our own track.
Keep a firm knee and a steady seat, for a slip now would be your last.'

'Holy mother!' cried Reuben, 'I had steeled myself to die in battle--but
to be dogsmeat! It is something outside the contract.'

'They hold them in leash,' said Saxon, between his teeth, 'else they
would outstrip the horses and be lost in the darkness.

Could we but come on runnin