At this, he turned to scowl out of the window again and I out of mine, and thus we came to an end of the rutted by-lanes we had been traversing and turned into the smoother going of the main road. We had gone but a mile, as I judge, when, borne to our ears came the faint, rhythmic beat of fast-galloping hoofs growing momentarily louder. "Someone in the devil's own hurry!" exclaimed Anthony, letting down his window. "No man would gallop his horse so without reason! Hark--hark, he must be riding like a madman--and in this fog! What the devil? Nobody to lay us by the heels--eh, Perry?" "God forbid!" I exclaimed fervently, as Anthony leaned from the window. "Nothing to see--mist too thick!" said he. "But road's dooced narrow hereabouts, yet hark--hark how the fellow rides!" And indeed it seemed to me that there was something terrible in the relentless beat of these wildly galloping hoofs that were coming up with us so rapidly. Anthony was peering from the window again; I heard him shout, felt the chaise swing jolting towards the hedge and the horseman was by--a blurred vision that flashed upon my sight and was gone. "Missed by inches--dooced reckless, by Gad!" exclaimed Anthony, and I saw that his frown had vanished. "What kind of a person was he?" I demanded. "Muffled up to the ears, Perry, hat over his eyes--big horse--powerful beast. Going to clear up and be a fine day after all, I fancy." "And it is nearly five o'clock!" said I, glancing at my watch. "Hum!" sighed Anthony. "And here you sit as serenely untroubled, as placidly assured, as if you were the best shot in the world instead of the worst." "Listen, Anthony!" I cried suddenly. "Do you hear anything--listen, man!" A faint throbbing upon the air, a pulsing beat growing louder and louder. "Do you hear it, Anthony, do you hear it?" "No--yes--begad, Perry, it sounds like--" "Another horse at full gallop, Anthony--and coming up behind us. Another horseman--from the same direction!" "Dev'lish strange, Perry. How many more of 'em?" "There will be no more!" I exclaimed bitterly, and then, the chaise beginning to slow up, I thrust my head from the window to demand why we were stopping. "Turnpike, sir!" answered the postboy. And peering through the haze before us I saw the tollgate, sure enough, and I turned to stare back down the road towards the second hard-riding horseman, and presently beheld a vague blur that resolved itself into a rapidly oncoming shape that swept down upon us through the swirling mist; the flutter of a long cloak, a spurred boot, a shadowy form bowed low in the saddle--all this I saw in one brief moment; then rose a hoarse shout from the eddying mist ahead; the jingle of flung coins and, lifting his animal at the tollgate, the horseman cleared it at a bound and, plunging into the haze beyond, had vanished like a phantom. And now I was seized with a passion of haste and began to shout fevered orders at our postboy.