We were now
again among trees, and, having come out of the moonlight, I could
not at first see more than a yard or two ahead. But on a sudden the
dim track before me was wholly blotted out by a dark figure. It
loomed larger as I approached, and my heart leapt with the hope
that it was Vetch's overburdened horse dropping behind. The rider
could not escape; there was a bank on either side of the track. I
was within a dozen yards of him when he reined up as if to dismount
and seek the shelter of the woodland, and then I perceived with
distress that whoever it might be it was not Vetch; the horse had
no second burden.
Next moment there was a flash and a roar; a bullet grazed my arm;
finding himself closer pressed than he thought, the fellow had
turned in his saddle and fired at me. He uttered an oath when he
saw me riding towards him unchecked. I was level with him, I drew
my horse alongside; and raising my cutlass above my left shoulder I
brought it down with a swinging cut upon the man. With a cry he
toppled from his saddle, and I shot past, in a headlong rush
towards the now thunderous rumbling of the sea.
'Twas but a few moments afterwards that I found myself falling as
it seemed into space. In my heedless and impetuous course I had
come unawares to the edge of a cliff. My horse fell, flinging me
clean over his crupper. I had given myself up for lost when I was
suddenly caught as by outstretched arms, in the entangling foliage
of a shrub, and as I lay there, dazed, I heard a sickening thud far
below me, and guessed that no such friendly obstacle had saved my
poor horse from death.
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