His body lay where it had fallen for several minutes. Then two young men in a cutter came driving from the road-house.
"Hullo, Ike, what's that?" cried one of them, pulling up.
"Looks like a tramp in the snow," replied the other. "Let's drive out of the way."
"We can't leave him here. He'll be frozen to death."
"By Jove, Will, you're right. Wait, I'll jump out and investigate."
The speaker leaped out into the snow, and bent over the motionless form.
"By Jove! It isn't a tramp at all!" he burst out. "It's a well-dressed young man. Go back and get help. He's hurt on the head."
The young fellow remaining in the cutter at once did as directed, and returned with a negro and a white man.
Hal's body was lifted up, and he was carried to the road-house and placed on a lounge in the waiting-room.
Restoratives were applied, and presently Hal gave a gasp and sat up, the cords with which he had been bound having been cut.