The sound was startling, for involuntarily the keeper had cocked both barrels of his gun; and, as he stood there with his eyes flashing, and the weapon trembling in the air, the three dogs looked as if turned to stone, their necks outstretched, heads down, and their long feathery tails rigid, waiting for the double report they felt must follow. "And--and--what did you do?" cried the keeper in a slow, hoarse voice, which, taken in conjunction with the rapid cocking of the gun, made Rolph think that, if it had been the father who had come upon that scene, there might have been a tragedy in Thoreby Wood that day. "I say, what did you do?" said the keeper again, in a voice full of suppressed passion. "That!" said Rolph, slowly raising his right hand to unwind from it Judith's soft white handkerchief, now all stained with blood, and display his knuckles denuded of skin. "Hah!" ejaculated the keeper, as his eyes flashed. "God bless you for that, sir. You knocked him down?" "Of course." "Yes--yes?" "And he jumped up and drew his knife and struck at me." "But he didn't hit you, sir; he didn't hit you?" cried the keeper, forgetting everything in his excitement as he clutched the young man's arm. "No; I was too quick for him; and then he ran off into the wood." "Damn him!" roared the keeper. "If I had only been there this would have caught him," he cried, patting the stock of his gun. "I'd have set the dogs on him after I'd given him a couple of charges of shot; I would, sir, so help me God." The veins were standing out all over the keeper's brow, as he ground his teeth and shook his great heavy fist. "But wait a bit. It won't be long before we meet." "I am very glad you were not there, Hayle," said Rolph, after watching the play of the father's features for a few moments. "Why, sir, why?" "Because I don't want to have you take your trial for manslaughter." "No, no; I had enough of that over the breaking of Jack Harris's head, sir; but--" "Yes, but," said Rolph, quickly, "I wanted to talk to you about that." "It was Caleb Kent," said the keeper, with sudden excitement. "Yes, it was Caleb Kent." "I might have known it; he was always for following her about. Curse him! But talking's no good, sir; and, perhaps, it's as well I wasn't there. Thankye, sir, for that. It makes us something more like quits. As for Caleb Kent, perhaps I shall have a talk to him before I go. But mind you don't speak to my Judy again." He shouldered his gun, gave Rolph a nod, and then walked swiftly away, the dogs hesitating for a few moments, and then dashing off, to follow close at his heels. Rolph stood watching the keeper for a few minutes till he disappeared. "Well out of that trouble then," he muttered. "Not pleasant for a fellow; it makes one feel so small. Poor little Judy! she'll be horribly wild when she comes to know. What a lot of misery our marriage laws do cause in this precious world."