Pinhorn.
I snatched my cap, and, knowing that with my long legs I could
reach the town by the fields more quickly than on horseback by the
road, I did not stay to saddle Jerry, but set off at full speed
across five-acre, vaulted the gate into the spinney, and so on till
I gained the bridge, by which time I was blowing like a furnace.
It was dark, being October, and though I knew every yard of our
ground, I marvel now to think how I escaped breaking my leg in a
ditch or coming to some other mishap. I raced on to Raven Street,
where Mr. Pinhorn lived, and by good luck found him just alighting
at the door from his nag. I told him my errand in gasps; the good
surgeon understood without much telling, and he leaped again into
the saddle (his foot never having left the stirrup) and galloped
away.
My knees shook so violently with the exertions I had made that I
would fain have rested awhile before returning. But the thought
that my father might die in my absence struck me with a chill, and
I set off at a swinging stride after the surgeon.
I had gone but a few yards, however, when ahead of me, by the light
of a flickering oil lamp, hanging from a bracket before one of the
houses, I saw a group of some five or six, youths by their build,
gathered about a doorway. Immediately afterwards I heard from the
same spot a harsh sound as of rending wood, followed by guffaws of
laughter. The party then moved quickly on for a few paces, and
again came to a halt at a doorway, whence in a few seconds the same
sound reached my ears.
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