could not talk to Mellersh, many of whose remarks fell upon unheedingears, while Linnell asked himself why he was doing all this to save frommisery and shame a woman who did not deserve his sympathy.
But, when he reasoned thus, it seemed as if Claire's pure, sad facelooked up into his reproachfully, and the thoughts her gentle lovingeyes engendered made him press his horse's flanks, and send him alongfaster as he said to himself:
"It is a mystery. I cannot understand it; and were she everything thatis bad, I should be compelled to fight for her and try to save her tothe end."
Mile after mile was passed, and though the dull thudding of theirhorses' hoofs upon the soft turf gave them opportunities for hearing therattle of wheels and the trampling on the rough road, no sound greetedtheir ears.
"We shall never catch them, gentlemen, like this," cried Bell at last."Curse the horses! Push on. If we kill the poor brutes we mustovertake that chaise."
"Forward then," said Mellersh eagerly, for there was that in the youngman's voice that cleared away the last shadow of doubt and suspicion.
They had been on the grass waste beside the road for quite five mileswhen, all at once, the way seemed to narrow; and they were about to turnon to the road, but Linnell drew rein suddenly.
"Stop!" he cried. "Listen!"
There was no doubt about it. As soon as they drew up, with their mountsbreathing hard, and snorting or champing their bits, there came on thenight air the _beat, beat_ of trotting horses, and the rattle of wheels.
"There," cried Mellersh, "that settles it. Forward, again!"
The horses seemed almost to divine that they had only to put on a finalspurt and finish their task, for they went off at a free gallop, andbefore long there was the rattle of the wheels plainly heard, though forthe most part it was drowned by the sound of the trampling hoofs, forthe pursuers were now upon the hard, chalky road.
A quarter of an hour's hard riding and they were well in view, in spiteof the darkness of the night and the cloud of dust churned up by theteam in the chaise. It was evident that the postboys were being urgedto do their best; and as they had put their wretched horses to a gallop,the pursuers could see the chaise sway from side to side when the wheelsjolted in and out of the ruts worn in the neglected road.
Had any doubt remained as to the occupants of the chaise, they wouldsoon have been at an end; for, as Linnell pushed on taking one side, andMellersh the other, Rockley's voice could be heard shouting from thefront of the chaise, and bidding the postboys whip and spur.
It was the work of minutes, then of moments, when Linnell, who was nowleading in a break-neck gallop, yelled to the postboys to stop.
"Go on, you scoundrels! Gallop!" roared Rockley from the front window."Go on, or I fire."
The man on the wheeler half turned in his saddle and made as if to pullup, but there was the flash of a pistol, the quick report, and as abullet whistled over his head, the postboy uttered a cry of fear, andbent down till his face almost touched the horse's mane, while hiscompanion on the leader did the same, and they whipped and spurred theirjaded horses frantically.
"Stop!" shouted Linnell again. "Stop!"
"Go on! Gallop!" roared Rockley, "or I'll blow out your brains."
The men crouched lower. Their horses tore on; the chaise leaped androcked and seemed about to go over, and all was rush and excitement,noise and dust.
Linnell was well abreast of the chaise door now, and pushing on to getto the postboy who rode the leader, when the glass on his side wasdashed down, and, pistol-in-hand, Rockley leaned out.
"Back!" he said hoarsely, "or I fire."
"You scoundrel!" roared Linnell. "Cowardly dog! but you are caught."
"Stop, or I fire," shouted Rockley again, fuming with rage and vexationat being overtaken in the hour of his triumph.
"Fire if you dare!" cried Linnell excitedly, as he pressed on.
_Crack_!
There was a second flash and report, and the horse Linnell rode made aspring forward as if it had been hit.
The thought flashed across Linnell's brain that in another few momentsthe brave beast he bestrode would stagger and fall beneath him, and thatthen the cowardly scoundrel who had fired would escape with the woman hewas ready to give his life to save. A curious mist seemed to floatbefore his eyes, the hot blood of rage to surge into his brain, lightsdanced before him, and for the moment he felt hardly accountable for hisactions.
All he knew was that he was abreast of the wheeler, with the manwhipping and spurring with all his might; that the horses were snortingand tearing along in a wild race, and that Rockley was leaning out ofthe window yelling to the men to gallop or he would fire again.
Linnell had a misty notion Mellersh was somewhere on the other side, andthat Bell was galloping behind, but he did not call to them for help.He did not even see that Mellersh was pushing forward and had reachedout to catch the off-leader's rein. All he did realise was that ClaireDenville, the woman he loved, was in peril; that her whole futuredepended upon him; and that he must save her at any cost.
He was galloping now a little in advance of the postboy. Their kneeshad touched for an instant; then his leg was in front, and he wasleaning forward.
"Touch that rein, and I fire," roared Rockley.
Then there was once more a flash cutting the darkness; and as the bulletfrom Rockley's pistol sped on its errand, the horse made one plungeforward, and then pitched upon its head. There was a tremendous crashof breaking glass and woodwork, and beside the road the wreck of achaise with two horses down, and the leaders tangled in their harnessand kicking furiously till they had broken free.
Volume Two, Chapter XXVII.
RICHARD LINNELL THINKS HE HAS BEEN A FOOL.
For a few moments, in the suddenness of the catastrophe, every one wastoo much astounded to take any steps. Linnell was the first to recoverhimself, and, leaping from his horse, he threw the rein to Bell.
Mellersh followed his example, joining Linnell as he tried to drag openthe door of the chaise, which was over upon its side with theoff-wheeler kicking in the front, as it lay there upon its companion ina tangle of harness.
The framework was so wrenched that for a minute or two the door wouldnot yield, and the utter silence within sent a chill of horror throughLinnell.
"Let me come, Dick," whispered Mellersh, the catastrophe that had sosuddenly befallen them forcing him to speak in subdued tones; "let mecome, Dick. I'm stronger, perhaps."
"Pish!" was the angry reply, as Linnell strained at the door, whichsuddenly yielded and flew open, the glass falling out with a tinklingnoise.
Just at the same time the man with the leaders trotted back with hisfrightened horses, the broken traces dragging behind.
"Hurt, Jack?" he cried to his fellow.
"No, not much," was the answer, as the postboy who rode the wheelerdragged his leg from beneath his horse, and immediately stepped roundand held down the head of the animal, which was kicking and strugglingto rise. "Woa! will yer. Hold still, Captain!"
With the customary feeling of helplessness that comes over a horse assoon as its head is pressed down, the poor animal ceased its franticefforts, uttered a piteous sigh that was like that of a human being, andlay perfectly still.
"Old Spavin's a dead 'un, mate," said the man.
"Dead?" said the second postboy.
"Dead as a nit, mate. There'll be something to pay for to-night's job."
"Anyone killed?" said the second man in a whisper.
"I d'know, and I don't care," grumbled the man; "my leg's bruzz horrid.Shutin' like that! It's as bad as highwaymen. Here, come and help cutsome of this harness. They'll stand now. Take out your knife, mate,and use it. They'll have to pay. I can't sit on this 'oss's head allnight."
"There's some of 'em got it," whispered the second man in a low voice,as he dismounted and stood beside his comrade watching while Linnelllifted out the insensible figure of one of the occupants of the chaise,and bore her, tangled in a
thick cloak, to the roadside, where he laidher reverently upon the turf.
"With you directly, Dick," said Mellersh, still in the subdued voice, ashe climbed into the chaise, and, exerting all his strength, raisedRockley and half thrust, half lifted him out, to drag him to the otherside of the road.
"Is she much hurt, sir?" said Bell hoarsely. "I can't leave thehorses."
"I can't say. I don't know yet," panted Linnell, who was trying to layopen the folds of the cloak, which he at last succeeded in doing, sothat the air blew freely on the insensible woman's face.
Linnell's pulse beat madly, as he half closed his eyes, and kept hishead averted while he knelt there in the