"Through the rocky, hilly country surrounding the Briars he pursued me, tenacious as a bloodhound. Owing to the fact that he had a lantern, and was thus able to avoid the obstacles which frequently impeded my progress, he covered the ground much quicker than I did. He also had an advantage in being in a perfect state of health. On the other hand, he had this against him--I was better able to follow his movements, thanks to his light, than he mine. Quick to see that I might turn this to profit, I decided, since it was inevitable he would overtake me, to lie in wait for him behind some convenient boulder, to attack him unawares, to disarm him if he carried a weapon, and then to render him harmless by methods which--as an old North-country wrestler--I felt were still within the range of my powers. "We had reached what was evidently a little plateau on high ground. Judging this to be a suitable place for the execution of my plan, I rapidly dodged behind an agglomeration of rocks and waited for his coming. Being fifty to sixty yards in the rear, it was some time before he had completed his search of the immediate neighbourhood and could push on still farther. This gave me time to recuperate my strength. Luck, too, would have it that when he came up with me, swinging his lantern this way and that, he passed to the right of my shelter in such a way that I had but to throw out my leg to send him sprawling to the ground. As he came down with a crash, a pistol which he held in his right hand fell and exploded, while the lantern clattered among the stones and was extinguished. "Hoping that he would be so stunned that he could offer but a slight resistance, I was upon him in an instant. Much to my surprise, however, he got to his feet in less time than it takes me to relate the fact, and, with a growl of rage, gripped me so tightly that I saw I should have the greatest difficulty in mastering him. Though a man possess all the science of all the wrestlers of Cumberland, he is a poor thing when in an indifferent state of health, and so I soon discovered. "Locked in each other's arms, we swayed backwards and forwards in the darkness--now one, now the other, appearing to have the advantage through the accidental nature of the ground. It was a marvel that we managed to keep our feet at all amidst all those stones and ruts. At times, also, we backed against huge rocks, and whenever Ivory got me in that awkward fix he would either angrily hiss his intention to finish me off, in payment of old scores, or grind his teeth with grim satisfaction. I can almost imagine, even now, that I feel his hot breath on my neck and the grip of his powerful arms around my body.