"Master Gilbert! Master Gilbert! You're late. Thank God you're back once more. I've a hare in the pot which begins to smell excellently." "I'll do justice to your cooking, Golding, never fear. I'll look to the mare first; she's had a trying day." He led the animal into the small shed, and for some time was busy making her comfortable for the night. "Ah! the smell is appetising," he said as he joined Golding, "and I am ravenous." "And in good spirits, surely." "Yes, we baulked them again, Golding. Yesterday afternoon we made in the direction of Witley, and had as narrow a squeak of capture as I want to experience. A troop was before us on the road, and one fellow with the eyes of a lynx sighted us. The poor fellow I was helping was a bit of a coward--no, I won't call him that, but constantly being hunted had taken the heart out of him, and he was inclined to give up the struggle. I urged him on, and we made for Witley, openly, and as if we were confident of a hiding-place in the town. Fortune favoured us, and we pulled up short in a hollow, the troop riding by us in desperate haste. Hot footed they poured into Witley, but for some reason which I did not understand they went no further. Half an hour afterwards they came back, all but two of them. I had counted them as they passed. Those two remained in Witley until long after nightfall, then they rode back, and my man had a free country before him." "You'll run the risk once too often, Master Gilbert." "That is probable, but, by Jove! I shall have done some good with my life. This was the thirty-eighth man I've helped out of the clutches of these devils." "And I was the first," said Golding. "It's wonderful how you schemed to get me out of Dorchester, Master Gilbert." "And it's marvellous how you manage to make this hut a home that one is glad to get back to, Golding." "Maybe we'll get back to Lenfield presently, Master Gilbert, and you'll then shudder at the thought of what you had to put up with here." "It will be some time before there will be safety for me at Lenfield," said Crosby. "And meanwhile a hare's no such bad fare, if the preparing and cooking of it does present some difficulties in a place like this," said Golding as he replenished his master's plate. Crosby had eaten little in the last twenty-four hours, and was silent for some time. "Thirty-eight is something, but it's a drop in the ocean," he said presently. "I wish I could open the prison doors in Dorchester before the assizes commence. There'll be murder enough done there in a few days, Golding." "That is beyond your power, Master Gilbert," and the old man said it as if he feared his master would make the attempt. "Yes, I am powerless. I wonder what became of that girl, Golding." "Do you mean Harriet Payne?"