"A bit weird, these signals," said Kilgour's neighbour. "I don't like 'em; it's too infernally suggestive. Where are they now?"
The watchers herded together, all standing up, all staring; trying to pierce the gloom, as the unseen horses came thundering up the rise. Singly they ran in.
Susan was sure that Barnaby would win. She could not understand why her heart beat so loud.
"One—two—three—!"
They were all frantically counting. Five men still up;—but not yet near enough to distinguish faces.
"If Barnaby isn't in the first three he's down."
Who said that? She gave one shudder and was quite still.
"Oh, God, don't let him be killed. Don't let him be killed!" she was crying to herself.
The fir trees spread their dark plumes overhead; in the boughs there was a strange sighing.... If he was not in the first three, if he was missing—her one friend in a land of strangers, lying there crushed and lifeless in the dark:—
"Oh God—!" she cried under her breath.