Hey! but we'll
have some sport hunting him across country if he runs. The earths are
all stopped. We'll have a fine burst, and kill the vermin in the end."

Neal stood upright.

"I surrender to you, Captain Twinely. I surrender as a prisoner of war."

It seemed to him the only chance of saving Peg MacIlrea. It was just
possible that the yeomen would be satisfied with one prisoner.

"By God," said the captain, "if it isn't that damned young Ward again.
Come, croppy, come, croppy, I'll give you a run for your life. I'll give
you two minutes start by my watch, and I'll hunt you like a fox. It's a
better offer than you deserve."

Neal stood still, and made no answer.

"To him, sergeant, prick him with your sword. Set him running."

The sergeant came blundering through the hedge. Neal stepped forward to
meet him, in the hope of keeping Peg concealed, but the sergeant caught
sight of her.

"There's another of them, Captain, lying in the grass."

"Rout him out, rout him out," said Captain Twinely, "we'll run the two.
We'll have sport."

The sergeant stepped forward and kicked Peg. Neal flew at the man and
knocked him down.

"Ho, ho," laughed Captain Twinely, "he's a game cub. Get through the
hedge, men, and take a hold of him. We'll hunt the other fellow first."

"The other seems to be wounded, sir," said one of the men. "He has his
leg bandaged."

"Then slit his throat," said the captain, "he can't run, and I've no use
for wounded men."

Neal, his arms tightly gripped by two troopers, made a last appeal.

"It's a girl," he said, "would you murder a girl?"

Captain Twinely rolled in his saddle with mirth.

"A vixen," he cried. "Damn your soul, Neal Ward, but you're a sly one.
To think of a true blue Presbyterian like you, a minister's son, God rot
you, lying and cuddling a girl in a field. A vixen, by God. Strip her,
sergeant, till we see if he's telling the truth."

Neal, with the strength of a furious man, tore himself from the grasp of
his guards. He plunged through the hedge and leaped at Captain Twinely.
He gripped the horse's mane with his left hand, and made a wild snatch
at the throat of the man above him in the saddle. A blow on the face
from the hilt of Twinely's sword threw him to the ground. He fell half
stunned. He heard Peg shriek wildly, and then lost consciousness of what
was happening.

He was roused again by a prod of a sword, and bidden to stand up. His
hands were tied and the end of