ression in them; one arm and shoulder looked distorted,
and his face was gray. Half-way across the field Gladwyne was struggling
savagely with the plunging chestnut.

"Get hold!" ordered Nasmyth hoarsely. "Some bones broken, by the look of
him; but he'll have his brains knocked out in another moment."

Crestwick was cruelly kicked as the bay rolled in agony, striking with
its hoofs; but he stuck to his task, and with some difficulty they
dragged Lisle out of danger. When they had accomplished it, Marple came
running up with two or three others and Nasmyth called to him.

"Came in the car, didn't you? Go off for Irvine as hard as you can drive.
Drop somebody at my place to run back with a gun."

Marple swung round and set off across the field, and Crestwick understood
why the gun was wanted when he glanced at the fallen horse. Nasmyth
informed him that nothing could be done until the doctor came, and he
turned away toward where his sister was waiting. His forehead and hands
were torn and he was conscious of a bad ache in his back where a hoof had
struck, but these things scarcely troubled him. He was overwhelmed,
horror-stricken; and the shock of seeing Lisle crushed and senseless was
not the only cause of it. Bella, gasping after her run, with hair shaken
loose about her face, seemed to be suffering from the same sensation that
unnerved him.

"Is he dead?" she asked falteringly.

"No. Badly hurt, I think."

"Ah!" she exclaimed with intense relief. "I was most horribly afraid."
She paused before she resumed: "You were close by the hurdles."

Jim knew she meant that he must have seen what happened, but, shaking as
he was, he looked hard at her, wondering in a half-dazed fashion what
reply he should make. He thought her suspicions were aroused.

"You were some way back; you couldn't have seen anything plainly," he
ventured.

"I was very near--looking back toward them--when they crossed the field
before the jump. You've gone all to pieces. What did you see?"

"I can't talk about it now," Jim broke out. "He's coming back."

Gladwyne had dismounted and was with some difficulty leading the chestnut
toward the hedge. His face was white; he moved with a strong suggestion
of reluctance; and when he reached the spot where Lisle lay he seemed to
have trouble in speaking.

"Is it dangerous?" he asked.

"I can't tell," Nasmyth answered sternly. "Shoulder's smashed; don't know
if that's the worst. Why didn't you pull u