he horses' hoofs upon the cobble-stones of the yard,
informed me that all was ready for our departure.

Chapter X. Of our Perilous Adventure on the Plain

We were not half a mile from the town before the roll of kettledrums and
the blare of bugles swelling up musically through the darkness announced
the arrival of the regiment of horse which our friends at the inn had
been expecting.

'It is as well, perhaps,' said Saxon, 'that we gave them the slip,
for that young springald might have smelled a rat and played us some
ill-turn. Have you chanced to see my silken kerchief?'

'Not I,' I answered.

'Nay, then, it must have fallen from my bosom during our ruffle. I
can ill afford to leave it, for I travel light in such matters. Eight
hundred men, quoth the major, and three thousand to follow. Should I
meet this same Oglethorpe or Ogilvy when the little business is over,
I shall read him a lesson on thinking less of chemistry and more of
the need of preserving military precautions. It is well always to be
courteous to strangers and to give them information, but it is well also
that the information should be false.'

'As his may have been,' I suggested.

'Nay, nay, the words came too glibly from his tongue. So ho, Chloe, so
ho! She is full of oats and would fain gallop, but it is so plaguy dark
that we can scarce see where we are going.'

We had been trotting down the broad high-road shimmering vaguely white
in the gloom, with the shadowy trees dancing past us on either side,
scarce outlined against the dark background of cloud. We were now coming
upon the eastern edge of the great plain, which extends forty miles one
way and twenty the other, over the greater part of Wiltshire and past
the boundaries of Somersetshire. The main road to the West skirts this
wilderness, but we had agreed to follow a less important track,
which would lead us to our goal, though in a more tedious manner. Its
insignificance would, we hoped, prevent it from being guarded by the
King's horse. We had come to the point where this byroad branches off
from the main highway when we heard the clatter of horses' hoofs behind
us.

'Here comes some one who is not afraid to gallop,' I remarked.

'Halt here in the shadow!' cried Saxon, in a short, quick whisper. 'Have
your blade loose in the scabbard. He must have a set errand who rides so
fast o' nights.'

Looking down the road we could make out through the darkness a shadowy
blur which soo