“Two to one I beat you, Whitestone!” I said.
“Then you’ll have to push your horse more,” said the sergeant, whose mount was neck and neck with mine.
In truth it looked as if he would pass me, but I managed to draw a supreme effort from my horse and we went ahead a little. However, I retained the advantage but a few moments. Whitestone crept up again, and we continued to race neck and neck. Adams, upon whom we had not counted as a formidable antagonist, overhauled us, though he could not pass us.
Thus we three, side by side, swept around the curve, and the command to the fugitive to halt and surrender was ready upon our lips.
The turn of the curve brought us into a wide and bare plain, and we pulled up astonished. Nowhere was a human being visible, and upon that naked expanse concealment was impossible.
We stared at each other in amazement, and then in shame. The truth of the trick struck me like a rifle shot. Why did I wait until he was gone to remember something familiar in the voice of that plowman, something known in the expression of that face? I think the truth came to me first, but before I said anything Whitestone ejaculated:
“Chudleigh!”
“Without doubt,” I replied.
“I told you the third time would not fail,” he said.