Going cautiously, pausing to listen again and again, he led the way; and soon they were getting close to that side of the wood from which the search had commenced. Then he bade the other two remain hidden, and he went forward by himself, until, at last, he was able to peer from the hedges.
He did not see a single man, though he looked carefully; but he did see—and the sight made his heart jump wildly—the horse and trap, the horse contentedly feeding on the rich grass. He would risk it! One chance, and one alone, offered, and he would take it!
He beckoned to his companions to join him, and whispered his plans.
"It is the only chance. No one is near the trap, and we can drive off before they will even know that it is gone. Will you dare it?"
"Yes," said the man desperately.
And Ralph, with a "Follow me, then!" was at the trap, had the rope, with which the horse had been tethered, cut; the other two were up after him, and, with a crack of the whip, away they went, clean across the open moor.
Lame or not, that pony had to go, for once. They were right across, close on two miles away, and getting near to Great Stow, before a distant shout, and figures running from the wood, told them that the theft had been discovered.
"Lie down, Charlton," he said, "and you sit directly behind me," he added to the man. "It will be far better if they can only see one person in the trap. We don't want them to know that I helped you if it can be avoided."
They reached the road; then turned to the right, so that the view was shut off from those behind. No one had seen them with the trap, and now Ralph reined in, and jumped down.