ow had intended to
frighten him. Each moment, however, he looked for a deadly conflict to
begin, and as he stood in quiet defiance, trying to determine what the
fugitive's next move would be, and momentarily expecting a struggle,
there was in the background of his thoughts a vision of an unmarked,
flower-strewn grave in a quiet church-yard. Strongly intertwined with it
was memory of his past life. But hark!

"Clockety-clack-clockety-clack!" It was the sound of horses' hoofs close
by. The constable had discovered them at last. Big Pete heard the
hoof-beats and knew he had paused too long.

"Death to ye!" he cried with an oath, and lodged a hammer-like blow on
Kingdom's head, sending the lad staggering, while he swiftly took to his
heels.

Dazed, but still conscious, Ree sprang after him, shouting "Come on!" to
the party of horsemen now but a few rods distant, "Ellis has just this
minute run into the woods!"

For an hour the men searched for the fugitive, but in vain. He had
disappeared completely and in the deep darkness pervading the
thickly-grown brush and trees of the forest he eluded his pursuers with
ease.

In disappointment the chase was abandoned and attention given to
capturing the escaped horses. This was at last accomplished, and as the
early moon was waning, the constable and his volunteers turned homeward.
One source of satisfaction was theirs--they had, at least, recovered the
stolen team and wagon, though the latter would need many repairs before
again being fit for service.

Ree briefly told of his adventure as the party rode along. John Jerome
could not withhold his words of regret that his horse had been too slow
for the race, nor could he quite understand how the stolen team had been
able to outstrip the others.

"I'll tell you how that was," said the constable's brother. "The nags Big
Pete had was really runnin' away. I guess you know how much faster a dog
will run when he has a rattle tied to his tail, than when he's jest
runnin' for the fun on it! Wall, this here's a parallel case."

Although it was nearly midnight, a small crowd of curious ones was found
still lingering about Mr. Rice's store, anxious to learn all that had
been done. Ree Kingdom received a large share of the praise for the
return of the stolen horses. Captain Bowen was delighted over his
behavior and would not listen to one word about the lost pistol.

"I'll drive over that way an' pick it up along the road somewheres in