As the night was warm, Gerald, having plenty of time, did not hurry himself. There was no moon, and the stars were covered with dun-hued clouds. Very little light, therefore, came from above. Nevertheless, the night was not entirely dark, as a faint luminous radiance was everywhere spread, and he could pick his way along the highroad very easily. Although, following Tod's advice, he had his revolver in his hip-pocket, he never thought that it would be necessary to use it. Major Rebb, as a civilized being, had refrained from actual violence, much as he apparently desired to use it. But then, he would only have taken to his fists. It was far otherwise with Geary. That semi-civilized savage would undoubtedly have taken to his yellow-handled knife. In the usual way in which intuitions came to Haskins, the thought of this knife unexpectedly flashed into his mind when he topped the last rise of the hills. Already he could see the glimmer of the Silbury lights, and paused a moment to watch them, shining like stars under the muggy canopy of the heavy sky. But the knife-thought remained, and he turned his head uneasily from side to side, scenting danger, by his sixth sense. The feeling passed, and then came again stronger than ever when he began to walk on once more. He glanced back, and then swerved to one side, just in time to avoid the rush of a big black form which hurled itself out of the shadows. It was Geary, who dashed towards him, missed, wheeled, and flung himself again on the young man. Haskins had walked to Denleigh in his flannels, as the evening was so close, so he was a sufficiently easy mark in the semi-darkness, showing whitely like a negative against the gloom. Geary clutched him in his powerful arms before he could swerve again, or draw his revolver, and then Gerald realized with a shock of surprise that, save for a pair of dungaree trousers, the man was naked. Not only that, but the upper part of his body had been rubbed with oil, and he slipped about like an eel. Geary made no remark, nor did Gerald speak, but the two men, the one big and burly, the other lithe and wiry, wrestled together for mastery. Haskins believed that Geary wished to get him down and stab him, but could not see if he held a knife. He certainly did not in his huge hands, but he might have had it strapped, sailor fashion, in the small of his back.