"That's the sound of horseshoes," said Gaydon.
"But there's another sound keeping pace with the horseshoes," said Misset.
O'Toole leaned on their shoulders, crushing them both down upon the sill of the window.
"It is very like the sound a gentleman makes when he reels home from a tavern."
Gaydon and Misset raised themselves with a common effort springing from a common thought and shot O'Toole back into the room.
"What if it is?" began Misset.
"He was never drunk in his life," said Gaydon.
"It's possible that he has reformed," said O'Toole; and the three men precipitated themselves down the stairs.
The drunkard was Wogan; he was drunk with fatigue and sleeplessness and pain, but he had retained [pg 113] just enough of his sober nature to spare a tired mare who had that day served him well.
The first intimation he received that his friends were on the watch was O'Toole's voice bawling down the street to him.