ened, but not without hope, for the screes and
shelves of this right side of the gully were known to me from many a
day's exploring. I was light on my feet and uncommonly sound in wind,
being by far the best long-distance runner in Kirkcaple. If I could
only keep my lead till I reached a certain corner I knew of, I could
outwit my enemy; for it was possible from that place to make a detour
behind a waterfall and get into a secret path of ours among the bushes.
I flew up the steep screes, not daring to look round; but at the top,
where the rocks begin, I had a glimpse of my pursuer. The man could
run. Heavy in build though he was he was not six yards behind me, and
I could see the white of his eyes and the red of his gums. I saw
something else--a glint of white metal in his hand. He still had his
knife.

Fear sent me up the rocks like a seagull, and I scrambled and leaped,
making for the corner I knew of. Something told me that the pursuit
was slackening, and for a moment I halted to look round. A second time
a halt was nearly the end of me. A great stone flew through the air,
and took the cliff an inch from my head, half-blinding me with
splinters. And now I began to get angry. I pulled myself into cover,
skirted a rock till I came to my corner, and looked back for the enemy.
There he was scrambling by the way I had come, and making a prodigious
clatter among the stones. I picked up a loose bit of rock and hurled
it with all my force in his direction. It broke before it reached him,
but a considerable lump, to my joy, took him full in the face. Then my
terrors revived. I slipped behind the waterfall and was soon in the
thicket, and toiling towards the top.

I think this last bit was the worst in the race, for my strength was
failing, and I seemed to hear those horrid steps at my heels. My heart
was in my mouth as, careless of my best clothes, I tore through the
hawthorn bushes. Then I struck the path and, to my relief, came on
Archie and Tam, who were running slowly in desperate anxiety about my
fate. We then took hands and soon reached the top of the gully.

For a second we looked back. The pursuit had ceased, and far down the
burn we could hear the sounds as of some one going back to the sands.

'Your face is bleeding, Davie. Did he get near enough to hit you?'
Archie asked.

'He hit me with a stone. But I gave him better. He's got a bleeding
nose to remember this night by.'

We did not dare