Of course, the strangers to this isolated spot paid little heed to their surroundings, as one and all tried to escape as much as possible the drenching rain, which was falling faster than ever, if that were possible. But Rob looked in vain for any sign of a house until they had gone half a mile, when he discovered a solitary frame house of two stories, and which had once been painted red on the outside. This paint was now worn off so that the broad sides of the building looked brown and dilapidated in the storm. There was not a whole window in the house and the door at the front side hung from one hinge. But the gaze of the approaching observers was suddenly attracted by the sight of a couple of horsemen riding up in front of the building from the opposite direction. Deacon Cornhill had seen the two men and, pulling up the horses he was driving, he said, in a low but husky tone: “It’s Sheriff Stanyan and ’Squire Hardy. They’ve got here ahead of us.” CHAPTER X. ’SQUIRE HARDY OUTWITTED. The reins trembled in the hands of Deacon Cornhill, who dared not contemplate the result of another meeting with his enemy. Rob proved himself better fitted to meet this emergency, and he asked: “Is there no other house that we can have?” “This is the only house on Break o’ Day. There are some sod houses that the coal burners lived in, but they are not fit places for you to stay.” “If others have lived there we can. I do not believe they have seen us. See? they are dismounting and leading their horses under the shelter of the trees. Can we get to one of these sod houses without passing that house?” “Oh, yes; there are two or three of them down this cartway a short distance.” “Then drive down there, and we will see what the ’squire will do.” Nothing loath, the deacon headed the horses down a narrow grass-grown path, where neither the footfalls of the animals nor the revolutions of the wheels gave back any sound. Little dreaming of the close proximity of those for whom they were looking, Sheriff Stanyan and ’Squire Hardy, after seeing that their horses could not stray, hastily sought the old house, that they might escape the pelting rain while they watched and waited for their prey.