Too near, perhaps? The dark line of the woods seemed but a stone’s throw away! You could almost see the individual trees. Hell! what a noise our sledge-runners made!
“Can’t you keep the horse back a bit, man?”
“Yes, but this is the spot we’ve got to drive past quickly!”
We were crossing the line of Lissy Nos, a jutting point on the coast marking the narrowest part of the strait. Again a beam of light shot out from the fortress, and the wooden pier and huts of Lissy Nos were lit as by a flash of lightning. But we had passed the point already. It was rapidly receding into the darkness as we regained the open sea.
Sitting upright on the heap of hay, I kept my eyes riveted on the receding promontory. We were nearly a mile away now, and you could no longer distinguish objects clearly. But my eyes were still riveted on the rocky promontory.
Were those rocks—moving? I tried to pierce the darkness, my eyes rooted to the black point!
Rocks? Trees? Or—or——
I sprang to my feet and shook the Finn by the shoulders with all my force.
“Damn it, man! Drive like hell—we’re being pursued!”
Riding out from Lissy Nos was a group of horse-men, five or six in number. My driver gave a moan, lashed his horse, the sleigh leapt forward, and the chase began in earnest.