"You picked up my pistols, Zeb?"
"And put 'em back i' the holsters, sir. And the rogues are got away sure enough, their horses are gone, d'ye see."
"Then we must spur, Zebedee."
"Aye sir. And the rain's stopped, praise God!" quoth the Sergeant and blew out the lanthorn leaving their captives to groan in the dark.
"Take the lead, Zeb," said the Major as they reached the high-road—"the finger-post a-top the hill—and gallop."
CHAPTER XLI
CONCERNING HIGHWAYMEN AND THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE
My lady Betty leaned back in the corner of her coach, gazed at her aunt's slumbering features dim-seen in the light of the flickering lamps, and yawned. The storm had abated, the rain had passed, but the darkness was around them, a darkness full of rioting wind, and mud was below them through which the heavy wheels splashed dismally as the great coach laboured on its way.
My lady Betty, stretching rounded limbs luxuriously, yawned again and having nothing particular to look at, closed her eyes; but, almost immediately she opened them rather wider than usual, and sat up suddenly as, from somewhere amid the gusty dark outside, a loud voice hailed, a pistol cracked and the coach pulled up with a jerk.