ise suddenly about two hundred yards away to
the north of the hut--that is, by the way that I should have to go down
to the valleys again. They rose as if they were frightened. I kept my
eyes on the place, and presently I saw a man's hat moving very slowly.
It was the movement of a man crawling on his hands, drawing his legs
after him.

"Then I waited for David to come, but he did not come, and I determined
then to make my way down here as well as I could after dark. If there
were any fellows after me, I should have a better chance of escape than
if I stayed in the hut, I thought, until they could fetch up the rest;
and, if not, I could lose nothing by coming a day too soon."

"But--" began the girl eagerly.

"Wait," said Robin quietly. "That is not all. I made very poor way on
foot (for I thought it better to come quietly than on a horse), and I
went round about again and again in the precipitous ground so that, if
there were any after me, they could not tell which way I meant to go.
For about two hours I heard and saw nothing of any man, and I began to
think I was a fool for all my pains. So I sat down a good while and
rested, and even thought that I would go back again. But just as I was
about to get up again I heard a stone fall a great way behind me: it was
on some rocky ground about two hundred yards away. The night was quite
still, and I could hear the stone very plainly.... It was I that crawled
then, further down the hill, and it was then that I saw once more a
man's head move against the stars.

"I went straight on then, as quietly as I could. I made sure that it was
but one that was after me, and that he would not try to take me by
himself, and I saw no more of him till I came down near Padley--"

"Near Padley? Why--"

"I meant to go there first," said the priest, "and lie, there till
morning. But as I came down the hill I heard the steps of him again a
great way off. So I turned sharp into a little broken ground that lies
there, and hid myself among the rocks--"

* * * * *

Mistress Alice lifted her hand suddenly.

"Hark!" she whispered.

Then as the three sat motionless, there came, distinct and clear, from a
little distance down the hill, the noise of two or three horses walking
over stony ground.

III

For one deathly instant the two sat looking each into the other's white
face--since even the priest changed colour at the sound. (While they had
talked the d