Then Starbright loomed out of the crowd, mounted bareback on a horse which he had cut loose from a buggy. But he was far in the rear of Frank, and his chances of aiding Inza seemed poor indeed.
The sleigh containing Inza and the miscreant who had seized her was flying along straight for New Haven, a good distance in advance of Merriwell.
Suddenly Frank noticed that his horse was losing speed and beginning to limp. He applied the whip, rendered heartless in his treatment of the animal by the fear that possessed him.
But the limping increased and the speed became slower. A half-dozen times the horse stumbled and almost fell. Then it stopped, doggedly refusing to make another effort. It was dead lame.
Frank realized now why this horse had been left and the other taken. Probably Inza’s abductor had not meant to take the other horse as he drove out, but his own horse falling lame, he had seized the one driven by Bink and Danny. Fortunately for his plans, Inza was seated in that sleigh, making the work easier for him.
Seeing that it was useless to depend further on this animal, Frank sprang out of the sleigh.
He would have continued the chase on foot, but glancing back, he saw Starbright coming on the horse cut loose from the buggy. Behind Starbright, at varying distances, streamed the students and the spectators.
“Let me have your horse!” Merriwell commanded, as Starbright came up, for Dick seemed about to ride by.
Starbright reined in with a jerk and slipped to the ground.
“You’re lighter than I am,” he said, “and can get more speed out of the beast. Take him and welcome. You must get Inza out of the clutches of that rascal. He must be crazy!”