I
stole silently up to them. They were fine but somewhat faded garments,
modish and even foppish, and, so far as I could distinguish any
peculiarity, military in appearance, and evidently belonged to a person of
some quality. Nor had they been flung there in haste, for the coat was
neatly folded and the hat disposed carefully on top of it. How long had
they been there? I picked up the hat, and there was still the gloss of
recent sweat on its inside brim.
This, however, was no time for idle problems, a very urgent one being on
hand. Forward I crept to the side of the road, and, lying flat down on the
ground, pushed the stock of my gun on to the short grass, and peeped
cautiously to my right down the hill. I was about thirty or forty yards
from a bend in the road, and had intended to be much less, but my
discovery and my confused, half-conscious thinking about it, had deflected
me a little from my course.
Trot-ot-ot. He would be in sight in a few seconds. Trot-ot-ot, plainer
than ever, and there he was. The moment that he was in full view I made an
astonishing discovery, and saw an astonishing sight.
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