"And for heaven's sake give me a horse with four sound legs and with wind enough in its bellows to stand a gallop."
Fairley was soon in the saddle again, and this time with a better horse under him. His spirits rose as the miles were left rapidly behind, and as he turned each bend in the road he looked eagerly for a dust cloud before him proclaiming that his pursuit was nearly at an end.
Barbara sat silently in the corner of the carriage, Harriet Payne sat upright, looking from the window. It was Harriet who first noticed that the post-boy was suddenly startled, and that, in looking back, he had almost allowed the horses to swerve from the roadway.
"What is it?" she called from the window, as she looked back along the road they had come.
The post-boy pointed with his whip. Barbara looked hastily from the other window. There was much dust from their own wheels, but, beyond, there was another cloud surrounding and half concealing a horseman who was fast overtaking them.
"Looks like a highwayman," said the post-boy.
"Better a highwayman than some others who might have followed us," said Barbara, leaning back in her corner again. "Tell the boy to go on quietly, Harriet. This may be a very worthy gentleman who has need of haste."
A few minutes later the horseman galloped up to the window.
"Martin! You!" Barbara exclaimed.
"Had I not been delayed upon the journey I should have caught you before this. I wish I had."