Before the lurid flash died away, Jaquelina saw a second masked figure emerge from behind a tree with a bull's-eye lantern. She heard a voice exclaim in profound surprise:
"By Jove, it's a woman!"
"Yes," cried the girl, bravely, "and if you are men you will suffer me to pass. Only cowards would molest a woman!"
The second man flashed the light of the lantern into the pale, yet spirited face.
"By Jove," he said again, "what a pretty girl! Well, miss, we suffer neither man nor woman to pass without taking toll."
Jaquelina's heart sank. Would they take Black Bess, her uncle's favorite?
These were the horse thieves, of course. She could not repress the quiver in her voice as she asked faintly:
"What toll do you demand?"
"We usually take a horse, miss," said the last speaker, coolly, "but seeing that you're such an uncommon pretty girl, we'll take the mare, and you shall give us a kiss apiece, besides."
The man had reckoned without his host. The words were scarcely out of his mouth before a shower of keen and stinging blows rained down upon his head and face from the little riding-whip the girl carried in her clenched hand.