Her mistress did not speak, but I noted the look she gave her.

"He es still follin'," continued Amelia; "we shall 'ave to do summin zoon. What time es et, I wonder?"

"About nine o'clock, I expect," I replied. "Ah! yonder is light. I wonder if it is a kiddleywink?"

"Why?" asked Mistress Nancy.

"I hope it is," I replied, for at that moment a plan flashed through my mind.

A few minutes later we rode up to a little hamlet consisting of four houses, one of which was a public house.

"We will dismount here," I said.

"To what purpose?" asked Mistress Nancy.

"I have a plan in my mind," I replied.