The country was undulating, and he soon passed over a rise. Then he looked back and did not see his pursuers for a time, but they finally came up over the rise.
The roads outside the town were not in the best condition, but this disadvantage to Frank was also a disadvantage to those who were following him.
He kept looking for sign boards, as, at that time, he was not sure he had struck the right road.
As he dashed past a branch road, an old, weather-beaten board told him he was all right.
“Hurrah!” he cried, enthusiastically. “That’s the stuff! Now let them come on!”
Then came another thought. What if he reached Kilmerville too soon, giving his pursuers time to come up and capture him before the train arrived?
That would be quite as bad as missing the train.
But he remembered his conversation with the hostler, and he was satisfied that he did not have any time to spare. He must put as much distance as possible between himself and his pursuers before Kilmerville was reached, and then trust to fortune.
Frank talked to his mount, and it was not long before he decided that the animal was unusually intelligent. He sought to make friends with the horse, believing that the best way to get the best work out of the animal.
Occasionally he looked back. For some time he could obtain occasional glimpses of his three pursuers, but he was drawing away from them, and, at last, they were not to be seen.