e is no escape from the devils, but we can choose the spot
where we shall make our stand.'

'Come on, Reuben,' I shouted. 'We have only to reckon with the dogs now.
Their masters have let them loose, and turned back for Salisbury.'

'Pray heaven they break their necks before they get there!' he cried.
'They set dogs on us as though we were rats in a cock-pit. Yet they call
England a Christian country! It's no use, Micah. Poor Dido can't stir
another step.'

As he spoke, the sharp fierce bay of the hounds rose again, clear and
stern on the night air, swelling up from a low hoarse growl to a high
angry yelp. There seemed to be a ring of exultation in their wild cry,
as though they knew that their quarry was almost run to earth.

'Not another step!' said Reuben Lockarby, pulling up and drawing his
sword. 'If I must fight, I shall fight here.'

'There could be no better place,' I replied. Two great jagged rocks rose
before us, jutting abruptly out of the ground, and leaving a space of
twelve or fifteen feet between them. Through this gap we rode, and
I shouted loudly for Saxon to join us. His horse, however, had been
steadily gaining upon ours, and at the renewed alarm had darted off
again, so that he was already some hundred yards from us. It was useless
to summon him, even could he hear our voices, for the hounds would be
upon us before he could return.

'Never heed him,' I said hurriedly. 'Do you rein your steed behind
that rock, and I behind this. They will serve to break the force of the
attack. Dismount not, but strike down, and strike hard.'

On either side in the shadow of the rock we waited in silence for our
terrible pursuers. Looking back at it, my dear children, I cannot but
think that it was a great trial on such young soldiers as Reuben and
myself to be put, on the first occasion of drawing our swords, into such
a position. For I have found, and others have confirmed my opinion,
that of all dangers that a man is called upon to face, that arising from
savage and determined animals is the most unnerving. For with men there
is ever the chance that some trait of weakness or of want of courage may
give you an advantage over them, but with fierce beasts there is no such
hope. We knew that the creatures to whom we were opposed could never
be turned from our throats while there was breath in their bodies. One
feels in one's heart, too, that the combat is an unequal one, for your
life is precious at least to you